Code of the Samurai
by Yurii Savinov
Summary: Two very different ways of life, ones that normally stay seperated from one another. Full summary inside. KakashiOC, LeeOC, GaaraOC
1. Rescue

**Code of the Samurai**

**Rescue Mission**

* * *

**Synopsis:** Two ways of life, ones that normally stay seperate from one another; the lives of the ninja and the samurai. However, when one injured samurai is isolated from his comrades and then rescued, those two ways of life start to come together.  
KakashiOC, LeeOC, GaaraOC

* * *

**Kai-Sensei:** _I HATE intro chapters X( They're always the longest ones fuck-dammit!_

* * *

Silent as stars. The village of Konoha was settled into a wary peace under a half moon, the kind of peace that only crept over the huge city at night when the majority of it's sane inhabitants were sleeping away the day's exhaustion and stress, and when the streets were empty save for the graveyard shift shinobi making their patrol rounds. 

From beyond the city walls, well out of earshot of the ninja, the clashing of steel against steel was evident, but the ones wielding the metal couldn't be seen even under the moonlight. In a burst of smoke that would change the fate of seven of the fighters, one injured warrior would be isolated from his comrades and come into the attention of the shinobi who were unaware of just how close they were.

* * *

"Well, well, looky what we got here!" 

"Is that-?"

"You betcha."

The two would-be ninjas with the painted faces threw a battered figure at the feet of their colleagues. The person grunted at the pain when they hit the ground; judging by the pitch of their voice, it was a young man, probably no older than themselves.

"No way… He's a-!"

"**What the hell's all this about?!**"

The younger men all jumped when a deep voice bellowed out angrily, all knowing who it was and what it meant. The circle of shinobi parted as a large, stout man in a ringmaster's coat and hat stepped through to see what was causing all the fuss. When he saw the injured figure lying on the ground, he scoffed and kicked him in the side, earning a verbal grimace.

"Why the hell do you think I can use this? This bastard is worthless!" He spat at the leader of the hostage's captors before glaring scornfully back at the man on the ground, who was making a shaky effort to get up.

"B-but M-M-Master Kamaji, sir, we _can_ use him!"

Grabbing the man by the arm, he roughly hauled him to his feet where he came into light.

A blood-splattered white and blue-painted porpoise mask came into view as well as blue-black-and-bronze armor to match. Tied into his sash was a katana with gold kanji inscribed on the sheath and a plum blossom saber with an unraveled scroll reading the kanji _Inagaouhou_ (**Karma**) in gold ink tied to the red tassel. On his right side, an ugly reddish brown stain marred his otherwise flawless armor: it was undoubtedly the wound that had him crippled.

Kamaji threw his head back and laughed at the sight of such a supposedly mighty and feared warrior so helpless. If he'd had the strength, the samurai might have had his katana at (Or better yet, _through_) the bastard's throat.

Sadly, this was not the case.

"HA! We can! Excellent job, boys! Get him into a cell while the audience arrives!"

* * *

"**Al**_right_! Finally, a decent mission!" 

The exuberant blonde ninja's cheerful shouting was cut off when a fist connected forcefully with his skull courtesy of a certain green-eyed kunoichi.

"Dammit Naruto, do you _want_ to blow our cover!? They can probably hear you all the way to where we're going! Besides, it's not that great a mission; we're just checking out a fighting ring to make sure they're not forcing kids to fight or some sick crap like that." Sakura spat.

Sasuke, nonchalant as always, snorted and rolled his eyes.

Kakashi, whom Sakura and Naruto had begged to come along for old time's sake, sighed and flipped the page of his book, not even raising his eyes to the scene where Sakura had now gotten Naruto in a camel hold- sitting on his back while he was on the ground on his stomach, her hands cupped under his chin and yanking it painfully upward and his hands pinned to the ground by her feet.

(**A/N: Sakura kicks ass:D But I still hate her.**)

"UNCLE! UNCLE! I _GIVE_, FUCK-DAMMIT!!!"

"Hmph. Hope that teaches you." She growled, releasing his head (which hit the ground with a loud 'THUD!') and getting up, dusting herself off while Naruto rubbed his sore neck with his equally pained hand.

Again, the exasperated Uchiha rolled his eyes.

This was the first thing they'd had that was even remotely close to a serious mission in a very long time, and they were still acting like clowns, especially Uzumaki.

Sometimes he wondered if his teammates were still twelve or thirteen years old instead of fifteen.

He himself was now almost sixteen, and that didn't help a lot since it made his fan girl horde even bigger.

Being well-known, renowned and handsome (especially all at the same time, _all_ the time) _sucked bloody ass_ sometimes.

Mental groan.

He was brought out of his brooding when his senses picked up a presence.

_No, wait…_

There was more than one.

_There's at least four…_

He glanced delicately over his shoulder at his sensei. Although he appeared off guard, the slight but apparent tension in his otherwise lazy-looking posture indicated he was in fact on-guard and fully aware of whomever it was that was near by.

Naruto and Sakura, who were still bickering, remained engrossed in their argument and completely oblivious to whoever was there.

Then, just as fast as they had come, the presences were gone.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Whoever the hell they were, he knew they weren't ninja and they were far too fast to be normal people.

_Hmm…_

* * *

"WELCOME ladies and gentlemen to Master Kamaji's big top! Are you ready to see some fighting!!?" 

The crowd screamed in anticipation as the second-in-command made a wide beckoning motion with his arms to get the audience riled up. Far above the crowd and undetected in the rafters, Team 7 along with several other ninja were watching all parts of the tent with attentive eyes. Among them were Shikamaru, Ino and Lee, and somewhere hidden in the crowd by the guise of a transforming jutsu were Tenten and Neji.

Things had been so incredibly slow at the missions desk that most of the former Rookie Nine Chuunin and Jounin had taken up the prospect of having something higher than a D-Rank chore- err, _mission_, even though it probably could have been handled by three or four Chuunin… one good Jounin even.

The first battle wasn't even worth being awake for; it was just two huge under-dressed morons who referred to themselves in the third person. It was almost pitiful, their lack of technique. Naruto had the gall to chuck a rock at them from the rafters, much to the amusement of the Chuunin and the disgruntlement of the Jounin.

The second match was… interesting, to say the least... Never in any of their lives had they heard so many threats and strings of curses. Obviously, the two combatants were a couple of _very_ creative teenagers. Could you even _do_ that with a sword?

However, as the 'show' dragged on, it got more and more suspicious. The fighters as they stepped into the arena each appeared to be in worsening shape than the last, whether it was scars or poorly-healed wounds. When the twelfth match came around, they all got a surprise.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight we have a real treat for you! We have with us a warrior not seen by ninja or civilian for decades, thought to have been slowly dying off! But first… In this corner, we have the undefeated champion, Hayate Takehiko!"

The crowd roared as the reigning champ, a large man clad in rough leather armor, stepped into the spotlight, the champion's belt around his waist. Takehiko raised his arms, loving every bit of the attention.

The man was maybe six-foot-four or so, black hair in a messy ponytail, and judging by the smirk on his face, very ego-inflated.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Aaaaand in this corner, the challenger!"

A spot light came on and shone down on the corner opposite Takehiko; up in the rafters, several gasps could be heard.

"Ronin the Samurai!"

The crowd, not pleased with someone challenging their title holder fighter, started booing viciously, some people throwing rocks at the barely-standing warrior, who wouldn't even look up to see his opponent.

"He's hurt…"

Naruto turned to Sakura, who had spoken. She pointed to the samurai, who was bleeding profusely from a nasty-looking wound on his side.

"BEGIN THE MATCH!"

Takehiko let out a tremendous bellow before charging head first at the injured samurai. 'Ronin' remained still, not looking up even with the oncoming threat.

What happened next, no one had time to blink. One minute, Takehiko was only a couple of feet away from Ronin, the next, he'd charged head-first into the post of the corner, and Ronin was standing behind him in a fighting stance with his hand ready on the hilt of his plum blossom saber.

However, from anywhere in the stands, one could see that he was struggling just to stay on his feet. The wear of his injuries was starting to take effect.

An enraged Takehiko, not even fazed by the impact of his head with the wooden post (which was now smashed to woodchips) turned around to face the samurai.

He'd hurt his ego.

_Scowl._

Now it was personal.

The crowd was booing even more loudly than before, and the ninjas in the rafters were good and ready to intervene and end the one-sided battle. However, someone beat them to the punch.

Out of seemingly nowhere it started to rain small black pellets (though to the trained eye, one could see that it came from the top of the center post holding up the tent) which exploded in smoke when they hit the ground. The crowd watched and waiting anxiously, unsure of what was happening when a figure leaped acrobatically out of the smoke, but it sure as hell wasn't Ronin.

It was another much taller, stronger-built samurai who was even taller and stronger-looking than Takehiko, and this one was clad in charcoal-gray, silver and black armor with a huge _zanbatou_ sword strapped on his back. His mask, unlike Ronin's, was that of a bear and painted with dark green marks.

(**A/N: A zanbatou is a sword like Zabuza's.**)

Takehiko, startled and still furious, ran at the new (decidedly larger) opponent with a roar of fury only to have the samurai lunge in a swift movement, followed by an armored fist sunk into his stomach with astounding force a split second later. He slumped over the samurai's fist, the wind knocked out of him; the samurai simply heaved him aside with little to no effort and let him hit the ground with a heavy 'THUD'.

As the smoke started to clear, the crowd let out a chorus of shocked gasps. Surrounding the injured samurai (including the one that had just punched out Takehiko) were six more samurai, each in a different color armor and mask, all of them wielding a weapon and in fighting stances.

What was interesting was that of all their weapons, not one of them had their katana in their hands.

"What the…?" Naruto started.

"They must be his comrades." Kakashi pondered aloud.

'Ronin', now safe, let his saber slide from his exhausted hands and clatter to the ground before his legs gave; the tall bear-masked samurai swiftly leaped back and caught his friend while another samurai in a wolf mask picked up his sword and sheathed it for him.

Ronin was out cold.

It was then that the one in the black, gold and crimson armor appeared.

* * *

From up in the rafters, Kakashi was surveying the scene with a sense of awe as well as urgency; it was clear that the samurai who'd stepped forth was their leader, but it was the mask that had his attention. 

It was definitely a bird of sorts, but the way the beak and the eye slits were shaped were rather unusual. The beak was long and hooked, not like any ANBU bird mask he'd ever seen. The eyes were slanted slightly upwards and had red markings like the Eye of Horus adorning the back and bottom of them as well as all over the rest of it. A long crack ran from its top left side down to the chin, giving the impression that this samurai wasn't its first owner.

On the forehead in white over the red-painted widow's peak were the kanji reading _fushichou no ka_, which literally translated to Undead Bird of Fire.

Translated properly, it meant Phoenix.

_Then that means it could only belong to one clan…_

He didn't get the chance to finish his thought. The stagehands and other workers including the hired fighters had come out into the ring, all bearing some kind of makeshift weapon including sticks, pipes, chains and crude-looking knives. The phoenix-masked samurai (he decided to call that one Fushichou), who currently held a folded pair of _Tie Shan_, steel and iron fans, slid into a fighting stance as four of the stage hands and combatants advanced.

Fushichou turned his head back to his comrades.

"Kuma, get Sakana out of here. We'll hold them off and catch up."

The tall samurai in the dark armor nodded and hauled "Ronin", now called Sakana, onto his back, securing him there by tying his own sash around both their waists before taking off through the opening above the center tent pole.

(**Kuma- Bear; Sakana- Fish**)

Turning back to the advancing group of stagehands, Fushichou backed up still in a stance to rejoin his comrades.

The other four did the same with their weapons, but instead of fans, one whipped out a longbow and three arrows, another a pair of three-pronged silver _sai_ knives, another a pair of six-inch butterfly knives, and the last one a pair of Hu-Tou-Gou, swords with hooked ends and crescent moon hand guards.

* * *

Kakashi wasn't surprised; he knew from valuable experience (and some study) that samurai didn't draw their swords unless either engaged in a serious battle or when fighting an opponent who was also using a katana. 

The Copycat ninja raised a hand, the signal to get ready in case it got ugly. He could practically _feel_ the others tense to spring and ready themselves mentally.

"Get 'em!"

The stagehands charged with a chorus of angry yells, and just as Kakashi was clenching his hand to give the OK to go, he made the mistake of blinking.

* * *

In the time it took for him to bat an eyelid, Fushichou had leapt into the air some 20 or so feet in the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon position, fans still shut and held in his hands like an extension of his fingers. It seemed that in slow-motion, four of the stagehands threw their chains up at the phoenix samurai in an attempt to entangle him. 

In a flick of the wrist, Fushichou snapped his _tie shan_ open, as he did so revealing a yin yang and a pair of gold-and-red phoenixes on a black background. Two of the chains bounced of the fans with a metallic 'clang' sound, and with a fluid mid-air spin, the samurai had deflected the other two and landed smoothly on the ground in what looked like a Tai Chi stance.

The eyes of his mask shadowed from the spotlight hitting the visor of the helmet on his declined head, he slowly looked up, giving his mask a menacing, deadly aura.

"I'll teach you to mess with my teammates…"

By then, the ninjas had reacted and jumped in to join the fray; somewhere in the ruckus, one could hear a volley of arrows being fired at a rapid rate and whistling past before hitting something with a 'THUNK' or some_one_ with a 'THWACK'.

Lovely.

* * *

Kakashi landed a few feet from Fushichou, who after landing and hissing that threatening statement had immediately charged the nearest stagehand with a rather powerful headbutt; he didn't doubt it was a wounding blow, what with the steel feather-shaped spike on the front of his helmet as well as the stag beetle-shaped "horns" on his forehead over the visor. 

The samurai turned quickly around to face the shinobi, prepared to fight back if need be. Kakashi raised his hands to show he wasn't an enemy. One other thing he was silently thanking himself for; studying the fighting styles of samurai.

If this one lived up to the reputation of the samurai from the clan he belonged to, this would get very ugly.

Much to his relief, Fushichou turned around and faced his comrades who were fending off anything thrown their way, including punches, kicks and weapons.

"We got who we came for! Cease and desist!"

The other samurai nodded as their leader leaped back into their back-to-back circle. The one with the tiger mask holding the sai knives sheathed them in his sash and pulled out three black pellets, probably from a hidden pouch. He threw them down violently, and in a burst of smoke, they were gone just as quickly as they had come.

* * *

"That was so weird…" 

Shikamaru and Kiba nodded in agreement with Naruto. As soon as the smoke pellets had gone off, half the ninja in the squad had run outside at top speed, but the samurai had long disappeared and hadn't left a trace of having been there… well, aside from the bloodied, beaten stagehands.

Cringe.

Lee was somewhere in the background gushing about how his sensei could have easily taken on any of the samurai, and Gai, being the big-headed dork he was, was agreeing fully and bragging about his past battles with other samurai. Kakashi didn't doubt he was making them up to impress everyone.

"Hey, check it out, a traveling group!"

At Naruto's outburst, several of the ninjas looked up to see a group of about six travelers, all of them dressed in colorful old-fashioned oriental clothing. One horse, a large white stallion, was pulling a small two-wheeled cart with a blanket over the top. At the front of the group on a large black horse was the apparent leader, a young woman no older than 18 or so, from what any of them could tell with whatever part of her face wasn't obscured by her dark bangs. A single katana hung from a belt around her hips, the kanji on the sheath reading in gold, 'Shinsei-Na Seijaku', Divine Silence.

She regarded their presence only by turning and pinning them down with her gaze for a brief moment, earning a shudder from Naruto and Kiba; her eyes were a fierce tawny-gold color, much like a hawk's.

Kakashi studied the other five; like their leader, they each had some kind of weapon. The young man on her right had a quiver of arrows and a bow on his back; the man on her left had a single katana as well, Kuma Gatsuuga. The three behind her all had single katanas, none with visible names, and didn't even look at them.

The girl at the front turned back to the road and made a whistling sound through her teeth, urging her horse into a canter; the others followed suit without command.

Kiba scoffed.

"Stuck-ups."

What had Kakashi concerned wasn't the intense gaze of the leader; it was the fierce aura she was giving off.

* * *

"Daaaaaammmnnnn iiiiitttt… why won't something happen??" 

"Ah, stop your griping. It's such a drag."

Naruto groaned and rolled over on his back to stare up at the color-stained clouds. The sun was very slowly starting to go down, and he and Shikamaru were lying on the roof of his apartment building doing nothing.

Well, if Naruto complaining and Shikamaru listening to him counted as 'nothing'.

"Meeeeehhhhh…."

Shikamaru just sighed and closed his eyes. By now, he was used to the blonde's whining, but since things had slowed to a crawl again, even he admitted to being partially bored.

The apocalypse is upon us; Shikamaru is bored.

Luckily for both their sanity, Naruto got his wish when an unusual presence found its way into their ninja radar. It was much too strong to be merely chakra, but not strong enough to be more than one person.

A moment later, a streak of black, blue and white shot past; a young man with dark eyes and brown hair, not much younger if the same age as their senseis. Under his arm was a brown burlap sack, its contents unknown.

What made both Chuunins' eyes widen was that there wasn't a _hitai ate_ or single symbol of a shinobi on his person; this guy was one of the travelers they'd seen a few days ago, and judging by the look on his face as he flew over them mid-leap, he knew he wasn't welcome.

"C'mon Shikamaru, let's get 'im!"

The slacker ninja didn't have time to protest when the blonde ninja yanked him roughly to his feet. The man hit the ground, er, roof running, closely followed by Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Urgh, this is such a drag!" Shikamaru groaned.

Much to his disgruntlement, the man they were chasing tied his bag to his belt and picked up speed as he bolted still faster in the direction of the trees in the training area.

Naruto, already frustrated with the fact that he was keeping a steady ways ahead of them, formed an all-too familiar hand sign.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_" (Shadow Clone Technique)

In a large burst of smoke, 4 Naruto clones appeared beside them. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but made the necessary hand signs to ready a _Kage Shibari_. (Shadow Possession)

The unwanted visitor glanced over his shoulder and scowled before he turned back. Both of them could easily tell he was making hand signs as his arms moved in the actions.

"_Kiri Shunshin!_" (Mist Flicker)

Almost in the instant he'd shouted out the technique, he evaporated in a puff of mist.

"Wha-? How the hell did he do that??"

For once, even the genius/slacker had no reply.

_How **did** he do that?_

* * *

"This is such a drag…" 

"Hey, you wanna find out if that smoke is from the guy we were chasing, don't you? So quit yakking and c'mon."

_Groan._

At least the lazy ninja had something to be grateful for, if just a little; they'd slowed to a careful and nearly dead-silent walk in order to close in undetected on the area close to the source of the smoke. Apparently, it was located close to the river.

"I think this is it…" Naruto whispered not-so-discreetly.

The blonde ninja scooted towards the edge of the tree limb he was standing on towards a gap in the thick leaves.

"No way…"

Wandering around a 6-tent campsite with a campfire that had a pot of something cooking on it and logs for seats around it were several of the samurai from three days ago, and lying outside all bandaged up was Sakana.

_Wait…_

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes warily.

Tiger mask; bronze, black and brown armor. Tora.

_One…_

The injured samurai, Sakana.

_Two…_

Bird mask; green, brown and gold armor. Tori.

_Three…_

Wolf mask; green, gold and bronze armor. Ookami.

_Four…_

Shark mask; blue, navy and silver armor. Kisame.

_Five…_

Phoenix mask; black, crimson and gold armor. Fushichou.

_Six…_

He paused and counted them again. There were six, but when they'd seen them at the mission to the fighting ring, there had been seven including the injured one.

One of the samurai was missing.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?"

Both ninja whipped their heads around in surprise to find that squatting on the branch towering over them was the tall bear-masked samurai less than two feet away.

"AHHHHHH!!!!"

Naruto, who had let out that rather –snicker- _unmanly_ shriek of terror, almost immediately lost his balance and fell off the branch only to have the bear-masked samurai easily catch him by the ankle. Of course, that left him dangling upside down, and his yell had attracted the attention of five of the other samurai.

The shark-masked samurai leapt in front of Sakana, butterfly knives at the ready, while the tiger-masked samurai jumped up into the tree with his sais bared. Shikamaru, already ready with a strategy, formed the _Kage Shibari_ hand signs in rapid-fire procession.

"_Kage Shibari no Jutsu!_" (**Shadow Possession Jutsu**)

The shadow below Shikamaru shot out from under him to connect with the shadow under the samurai with Naruto, trapping him in place. However, his victory was cut short when he felt cold metal pressed against the side of his neck.

"Don't move." Said a husky voice.

Shikamaru glanced behind him where "Tora" had his sais so close that he'd be cut if he so much as swallowed. The lazy shinobi smirked weakly.

"I don't recommend holding them that close; whatever you do to me happens to your buddy while I'm using this jutsu." He threw back slyly. "If you kill me, he dies."

Tora growled lowly under his mask, sounding unusually like a tiger doing so, but he withdrew his sais slowly.

Very slowly.

Shikamaru turned to the bear-masked samurai, who hadn't let go of Naruto. Said blonde ninja's face was turning red from the blood rushing to his head.

"These guys aren't like the samurai from the Wave Country…" He mumbled in a woozy tone.

He could practically _hear_ the smirk on Kuma's face.

"You kiddin' me? Those wannabes?" Kuma chuckled. "Just cuz they carry a sword doesn't make them samurai, kid. We're a whole 'nother league."

_Boy, that's comforting._ Shikamaru thought sarcastically.

"Whatever. But while you're in my shadow, I have full control of whatever this league has to offer, so don't bother struggling."

He raised both arms as if to demonstrate, but Kuma didn't budge.

"What the…?"

_Dammit!_

In the time he'd spent talking to Kuma, Tora had prepared some kind of cancellation technique and now had two fingers to the back of his head.

"You're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve, kid." Tora growled. "Now I suggest you start cooperating before I have to use a nastier one than just halting the flow of your chakra."

Gritting his teeth, the slacker shinobi jumped to the ground, perfectly matched by the tiger samurai and followed by the bear samurai.

Shark Mask, who had been intently watching the scene in the trees, lowered his knives and his guard seeing that Tora and Kuma had it under control and that his injured comrade was no longer in danger of harm.

Sakana, who had woken up from all the fuss, groaned and opened his eyes before turning to look at them through a squint; it was right about then that both ninja realized that his mask had been removed; he couldn't have been more than 21 years old or so, barely an adult and still very much a young man.

The warrior sat up weakly in an attempt to get up, but immediately fell back with a groan as a sudden pain shot up his side.

"Tanaro!"

Shark Mask, the one who had spoken was immediately at his friend's side (apparently _now_ he was called Tanaro) and had his upper body supported on one arm while the other kept a firm hold on his left butterfly knife.

"Sit."

Naruto needed no further instructions and plopped himself on the log indicated by Tora pointing one of his sais. Shikamaru did the same, though in a much more cautious manner, keeping a sharp eye on the tiger-masked samurai.

The blonde ninja's eyes traveled to Shark Mask and Tanaro/Sakana; the former was currently trying to calm the latter down, who was being attacked by a vicious coughing fit. Shark Mask had put away his other butterfly knife and was tending to his reopened wound.

So, this one was the doctor.

"Spies, eh? I suppose that's our own fault for not being discreet." The leader, Fushichou, turned to stare down Shark Mask, who recoiled, muttering apologies under his breath in another language.

He was sitting on the log across from them on the other side of the fire, his arms folded and legs crossed. Shikamaru was vaguely reminded of a white crane by his build and the white and red mask.

"Now that you're here, I can't let you go until I've learned more about you; call it a force of habit on precaution."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"You're rather calm about this. How do you know we're not alone?" He threw back just to get a reaction. If he played his words right, he might get something out of this guy.

"I don't, but if you aren't, I don't think your buddies would be foolish enough to ambush us with a samurai within reach of both of you. You'd be taken out faster than you can blink." He replied.

By now, Naruto was getting fed up with just talking.

"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH! Who or what are you guys and what the hell are you doing here??" He shouted. "If you're trying to take over Konoha, you'll never get away with it!"

There was a long pause as a few of the samurai exchanged silent looks before they all burst out laughing.

"Uh, kid, not to be rude or anything…" Tori started, "But what the hell have you been sniffing?"

Naruto scowled, trying to hide his embarrassment at such an apparently stupid outburst.

"Kid, we're not after your precious village. We're just here until we can travel, and then it'll be like we were never here… assuming you don't go running off to tell your Kage about your imaginary plot." Kuma explained calmly.

"It's not like we're you're enemies." Tori added.

"Could've fooled me…" Naruto muttered while glaring at Tora, who only snorted in reply and folded his arms.

Fushichou just sighed.

"Fine then. If you want me to prove it to you so badly…"

Much to their surprise, Fushichou reached up to his mask with one hand and his helmet with the other, pulling both off in one fluid motion.

A long, dark wrap-ponytail bound in red silk fell to his waist, and when the mask came off, Naruto stared wide-eyed at the traveler girl from a few days prior. Fushichou smirked.

"Surprised?"

"What the-? You're a chick??"

"You have _kunoichi_, so why is a female _bushi_ surprising?" (**Bushi- Samurai**)

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto, who appeared to be thinking it over. Fushichou turned to her comrades.

"You might as well."

The others, some more reluctant than others, did the same and removed their masks; like Tanaro, they were all male. Kuma apparently was the oldest, and had navy hair and brown eyes that reminded Shikamaru strongly of Asuma, though he lacked a beard and had a lock of hair that hung just above the level of his eyes.

"Déjà vu, huh?" Tori kidded. He was only about 20 or so, not much older than Fushichou, with brown hair and deep green eyes.

Tora rolled his eyes; he was slightly older-looking and taller than Tori, and instead had jet-black hair and brown eyes much darker in contrast to Kuma's. Fushichou turned back to the shinobi, looking almost… friendly?

"While you're here, you may as well stick around. We actually have the ingredients to make some good ramen this time." She offered.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, skeptical. Shikamaru did the same, though his expression remained as bored and stoic as always.

"How do we know you didn't poison it??" He accused.

Tori rolled his eyes and walked over to the pot on the fire, took the lid off and fished out a ladle, taking a bite of it as proof.

"Hmmm….salt, pepper… lacks poison."

He paused a moment, then dropped the ladle.

"Ack! (cough) Jin! What the hell did you put in there??"

Tori staggered back clutching his throat before falling over backwards on the log Fushichou was sitting on. His foot twitched with the gurgling sounds he was making before he went totally silent.

There was a long, pregnant pause.

Naruto and Shikamaru were staring on, unconsciously hugging one another in terror.

Fushichou shook her head and punched downward, apparently connecting with Tori's unprotected head judging by the grunt he made.

"Yuuya, you're such an ass."

"Owww… Dammit Kai, do you _have_ to hit so hard??" Tori/Yuuya whined.

Shikamaru mentally took note: Kuma was Jin, Tori was Yuuya, Sakana was Tanaro and Fushichou was Kai. That left Tora, Kisame (Shark Mask) and Ookami.

"Keiji, get the bowls, would you?"

Ookami groaned, sounding unusually like Shikamaru doing so, but wound up going into the two-wheeled cart and retrieving a stack of ceramic bowls, each with a surname and seal on the side. The one on the bottom read _Utariyuma_ and had a tiger seal, which he assumed belonged to Tora.

Jin distributed ramen among them, two with more than the others; they had the decency to give Naruto and Shikamaru their own and leaving two of them to share. Naruto dug in almost as fast as Yuuya, which would have been comical if the scene of the shinobi's messy eating habits hadn't made it so stomach-churning.

"You've outdone yourself again, Jin." Yuuya commented after swallowing a dumpling.

The tall navy-haired samurai smiled slightly in acknowledgement. Even Shikamaru had to admit, it rivaled even Ichiraku's ramen bar.

_GASP._

"Help yourselves; there's plenty." Jin added to break the silence after Naruto finished his first bowl with a satisfied 'ahhhh…'.

Some twenty minutes later, an almost-empty pot and chorus of belches ("Men…") from Yuuya and Naruto were the only significant details to the clearing. Kisame/Shark Mask, apparently called Seyuno, had helped Tanaro get a little food in his system, and had gotten the help of Tora, called Hiroyuki, to pitch the last tent.

Now the pot had ginseng tea simmering in it, the steam rising up into the darkened sky. By now, Naruto had let his guard down as had Shikamaru.

He still didn't get why they were being so friendly; either they were very good actors (except for Hiroyuki) or they really were this hospitable.

"You can leave whenever you feel like." Kai stated, as if sensing his thoughts. "You're not prisoners or anything."

The lazy shinobi looked over at Naruto, who seemed perfectly content leaning against the log and staring up at the stars.

"We probably should be heading back. It's late."

Naruto looked back down, wearing an almost comical pouting look.

"Awwww, man!"

Even Yuuya looked disappointed.

"We'll be here for another week; feel free to visit, but try not to sneak up on one of us, okay?" Kai asked.

"Yeah! I'll be here, believe it!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

The tawny-eyed samurai grinned.

"Alright then."

Shikamaru turned around and started walking into the forest, Naruto jogging to catch up. By now all he really wanted to do was sleep, and he could feel his eyelids drooping.

However, something was nagging at him, and it was really annoying.

Something was wrong.

It was when 5 minutes into their journey back to Konoha that his foot sunk into the earth a few inches did it hit him too late.

"Look out!"

A strong force from behind shoved both of them forward as an explosion shattered the otherwise quiet night air; he'd set off a landmine, and one of the samurai had pushed them out of the way and taken the blast.

"JIN!!"


	2. The Journey Begins

**Code of the Samurai**

The Journey Begins 

* * *

**Kai-Sensei:** _Woo-hoo! Chapter two! –does victory dance- Haha! Hopefully I'll get all the OCs in here by chapter three, or at the VERY, VERY LATEST, chapter four._

* * *

"I'm amazed you're not getting all self-conscious about this kind of situation."

"When did I ever imply that I wasn't?"

Kai smirked and turned back to the doorway where several female nurses were making a rather useless attempt to cover up their idiotic schoolgirl giggling.

Jin, who was currently sitting on the doctor's table with only bandages to cover his otherwise bare upper body, didn't look too happy to be there getting ogled by strange women who apparently didn't get enough male ninja checked in.

At the same time, he really didn't mind the sacrifice. It was lucky Kai had told him to follow Shikamaru and Naruto back to make sure they got back; otherwise they would have been blasted sky-high. Luckily for him, he'd left his armor on and had escaped (relatively) unharmed- it exploded so that it only really hurt below the chest.

That, and there was that little thing about him being practically indestructible. Call it a clan trait, if you will.

"Try not to enjoy the view too much, ladies." Kai said a little more loudly than necessary. "He's happily married."

Several disappointed sighs made the phoenix's smirk widen; she beared an unusual resemblance to a hawk when she did that.

Well, it's not like she could blame them; back home in Kaneyama when he was younger, Jin had been a rather popular object of affections among the ladies until he got married.

Miiya wouldn't be pleased if she saw this.

_Smirk._

"What the hell are you standing around for?? MOVE IT!"

Jin cringed at the shouting, a woman (obviously) judging by the voice. The fact that he was sporting three broken ribs didn't help a lot, either.

However, it was Kai's turn to wince when she recognized the woman who stepped through the doorway as the crazy old Sannin lady.

Or, as most people knew her, Godaime; the Fifth Hokage.

**_Shit!_**

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jin sit up a little straighter, looking ever-so-slightly… terrified.

_Smirk_.

Kai was vaguely reminded of his sister Chiyuko… _Holy fuck_ was that girl _creepy._ She scared off whichever boys Jin didn't already chase off with a death glare and a flash of his huge _zanbatou_ sword.

The phoenix samurai looked up as the aforementioned Hokage entered the room followed by a pink-haired kunoichi. Apparently, her apprentice medic-nin. The former of the two appeared to be in her late 20's to mid 30's, but she knew better; all of the Sannin were over 50 years old.

"Lord Hokage." She addressed the shinobi, standing up from her place leaned against the wall and bowed with her hands in the traditional manner in front of her.

Tsunade looked mildly surprised at the sudden display of etiquette, but quickly shook it off.

"So, you two are the samurai everyone's been making such a huge fuss about."

She folded her arms and stared down the two _bushi_ with a calculating stare; both instinctively stared back with identically guarded looks- Kai's tawny eyes made her look like a predator sizing up its prey.

Tsunade turned to her apprentice seeing she couldn't win the staring contest.

"Sakura; what's the diagnosis?"

The pink-haired girl looked at the clipboard that had been under her arm.

"Three broken ribs on the left side and a minor abrasion on the right side. Apparently he stepped on a landmine, but was wearing his armor. It took most of the blast, but a lot of it was damaged beyond repair."

Jin groaned silently under his breath, muttering something about 'the things he did for his code', or something to that effect. Kai smirked inwardly at the unusual display; Jin being childish was almost as funny as Yuuya being serious.

….okay, maybe that was a bit extreme.

_Great. That means we have to go home to get it replaced…I suppose I'm due for a trade-in myself._

"So, doc, am I going to live?" Jin kidded, trying to loosen up the tense atmosphere.

"Hopefully; so long as you aren't bleeding internally."

The bear samurai looked up at the ceiling with a sarcastic-hopeful expression.

"Goody."

Kai shook her head.

"What about Tanaro?"

"He's in far worse shape than your friend here; apparently, whatever gave him that wound was infected with some kind of microscopic agent that attacks the internal life force. It could be days before he gets up again."

"Dammit…" She muttered.

She and Jin exchanged looks, silently giving one another an opinion only seen by them. The elder nodded, then the younger sighed.

"Well, we're grateful for the hospitality (Jin snorted at the pun), but we should probably head off tomorrow for home."

Kai stood up to go, but Sakura blocked her path.

Seiyantari Kai _did not_ like people in her way.

_Glower._

"How can you leave when two of your comrades are in such bad condition?? Are you even thinking about them??"

Kai's glare darkened.

"What do you think? I'm saying we have to get back home because Jin's armor needs to be replaced and Tanaro's wounds need to be treated by doctors with experience with _ki_-infested injuries. With all due respect, your hospital doesn't have any of the necessary chemicals and herbs needed for this kind of medical practice. Now, kindly move out of my way or I'll _make_ you."

Jin, who knew all too well how short-fused Kai could be when she was this tightly wound, watched and waited tensely. If the phoenix samurai got a snide or sarcastic remark in reply, he didn't doubt it would escalate to a brawl.

Much to his relief, the shocked-looking kunoichi stepped aside and let the elder girl pass. Aforementioned brunette walked briskly out the door, not even bothering to look up.

_Sigh._

So level-headed, but at the same time so argumentative. The Seiyantari clan never failed to surprise him.

* * *

"So, how's Tanaro doing?"

Hiroyuki shook his head. For him to display any kind of concern was rare, so it couldn't be good news.

"Not well. Apparently the samurai that wounded him had a kind of toxic _ki_ spell engraved into the blade. He won't die, but if it leaks into his _chi_ channel it could do some serious long-term damage." The tiger samurai informed his leader.

Kai scowled and turned back to what she was doing; packing up the second of seven tents. The other four (yes, that included Jin. He couldn't really stay put for very long especially when there was work to do) were taking turns watching over Tanaro while two or three others would help to disassemble their campsite.

Jin had an incomplete knowledge of medical treatments that was limited to normal physical wounds, and Kai still had yet to learn the healing _udemae_ from her _sensei_. Seyuno was doing the best he could for their comrade, but he was really still at a very intermediary level of _chi_ medical skill.

**Udemae- the samurai equivalent of _jutsu_**

He could keep the poisonous foreign _ki_ at bay for a couple of days at best.

"That's not all; unfortunately, the Hokage thinks it would be a good idea to have a four-man squad of their ninja escort us back to Kaneyama."

The lady _bushi_ paused. Why the hell did that damn woman insist on poking her nose into their business??

…Sakura probably talked her into it.

Bitch.

The elder, sensing the annoyance emanating off of his leader, raised an eyebrow. Jeez, Kai was having a rough day.

"Great. Now I have to go and try to talk the crazy old lady out of our 'escorts'." She growled, placing acidic emphasis and air quotes on the last word.

"Good luck with that."

_Glare._

"If that was sarcasm, eat shit and die. Otherwise… if not back in 1 hour, avenge my death."

"Can do. See you in an hour."

* * *

"Kai, we're in an alliance with your village. It's both an obligation and a responsibility to play my part in this, so deal with it."

The samurai felt her eyebrow twitch involuntarily. It was a rather difficult test for her patience; she either had the option of killing herself right then and there, or listen to this and _then_ kill herself.

Decisions, decisions.

This sucked. The grand Pooh-Bah of ninjas was insisting with an iron fist that she take up the offer of the bodyguards (when the hell did they go from escorts to bodyguards?) so she wouldn't shatter the already-tense alliance between the _bushi_ and _shinobi_ villages.

_Snort._

Yeah, right. Like one refusal was going to destroy the balance between the two and cause a bloody, all-out war.

Naturally, she'd already tried to run this by Tsunade, and **naturally** the hotheaded gambler only insisted further. She couldn't decide who was more annoying; Sakura or Tsunade.

Like _sensei_, like _seito._ (**Seito- Student; Sensei- Teacher**)

Kai idly wondered what Akahito-sensei was doing.

"Did you hear a word I just said?"

The younger girl growled lowly before taking a deep breath trying to replenish her dwindling supply of patience. So this is what the Shogun had to deal with. Maybe it wasn't such a good thing that she was next in line to becoming a Meijin. How Jin put up with it, she already knew, but it wasn't one of those things that could be learned. The man had the patience of the Buddha himself.

"I did, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take it. I personally know the Shogun of the Earth Country; he has just as much power as the Kage, and he's not the kind of person who would send out his entire army because he thought another Kage did something stupid or ignorant." She explained with as much patience as she could.

She was about to tell off the Godaime, but before she could start spewing curses in Mandarin, the door was forcefully kicked out as a green _something_ burst in.

**Samurai speak Mandarin (it's a form of Chinese) and Japanese**

"HOKAGE-SAMA!!"

Kai cringed and unconsciously raised a hand to her ringing ear, which the green thing had yelled in loud enough to shatter the sound barrier… and possibly her eardrum.

"MAITO GAI AND TEAM NINE REPORTING FOR DUTY!!!"

The (extremely loud) jounin gave the Hokage the thumbs-up; he failed to notice the writhing and pissed-off _bushi_ next to him that was using every shred of willpower she possessed not to whip out _Shinsei-Na Seijaku_… there was a **reason** why it was called Divine Silence. Her _wakizashi_ was called Final Silence, _Saigo Seijaku_… maybe she should go with that instead. 

_His life is mine._

Of course, she didn't get the chance to even go for the hilt. As soon as the elite ninja realized she was right next to him, he grinned and struck a pose (Kai visibly shrunk back).

"You must be the samurai everyone's been talking about! I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast!"

_Beast indeed._

Kai glared at Tsunade.

"Have you completely failed to tell my so-called escort-slash-bodyguard who he's body guarding-slash-escorting?" She asked in a mock-angry voice. "Are you incompetent or do you not know, yourself?"

Tsunade smirked triumphantly; bitch. She knew Kai was trapped.

_REVENGE!!!_

Kai silently thanked whatever deity was up there keeping her summon busy; the last thing she needed was the infuriated screeching of an enraged Mikoto in her head after Gai's shouting.

Note to self; get aspirin.

"And what might be the name of our lovely client?" Gai asked sounding unusually like a flirtatious Yuuya doing so. She glared when he grabbed her hand.

"Seiyantari Kai." She whipped her hand away and folded her arms sternly. "And don't touch me."

"You have my sympathies then, Kai." Another voice said.

The phoenix samurai glanced over her shoulder towards the doorway, but she didn't get the chance to ask who the new face was.

"KAKASHI! My eternal rival! What are you doing here??"

The masked ninja just shrugged.

"I happened to be in the neighborhood. I could hear you, so I figured there would be some client in need of rescuing."

Kai scoffed.

"You've wasted your time then, Cyclops. I'm no damsel in distress in need of saving." She snorted.

If there was one thing she hated, it was being looked down on for being female. Why else do you think she was using her grandfather's old armor?

"As I can see. You have _everything_ under control." Kakashi teased.

_Gllaaaaaarrrrreeee._

"If that was sarcasm, that was cruel. If it was literal, that's even worse."

_Grin._

"Just another service I offer."

He received a rude hand gesture for his 'services'. Gai, who had been watching, simply went on ranting about some ratio of wins and losses; Kai cast an 'I-feel-sorry-for-you' look at the Hokage, obviously referring to Captain Bowl-Cut. Tsunade sighed.

It was moments like the one that happened next that made her glad for her devious, plotting second nature; her face lit up with a hawkish smirk when the idea popped into her head.

"Alright Godaime, I'll make you a deal. I'll take your escorts, but Cyclops has to come with us."

Both elite ninja looked at her; she could have laughed at their expressions- Gai thinking of the prospect of another challenge; Kakashi, pure dread.

"You make fun of me, Cyclops, and I'll make you suffer for it."

_Smile._

Tsunade seemed to catch on as well as realize some other advantage in it for her; she could be rid of the sarcastic jounin for a while.

"Done!"

Glad to be done with it, she shoved Kai towards the two ninja. Of course, in that moment she seemed to have completely forgotten about the fact that she was insanely strong and wound up throwing the samurai straight into Kakashi.

Two things happened next; one good, one not so good. The good thing was that Kai's reflexes kicked in and forced her body to prepare itself for impact- hands in front of her and feet braced so she slid across the floor instead of flew. The bad thing was that as soon as Kai's instincts turned on, so did Kakashi's. In a move so fast only a ninja of his rank could pull off, he'd lunged forward in an attempt to catch her.

The end result?

Kai smashed right into Kakashi, hands first into his chest, inertia canceling out Kakashi's move forward but not Kai's, causing them both to topple over onto the floor in a rather provocative position.

While Gai looked shocked and Tsunade looked apologetic, the two victims couldn't really appear anything but surprised.

Kakashi had at least changed reactions fast enough to break his fall with one arm, the other being locked around Kai's waist. The samurai, who had landed heavily on him with her hands on his chest had one leg aligned with his and the other almost hooked over his hip. One of his was bent up between hers, and if they hadn't been in shock at that moment, neither Gai nor Tsunade had a doubt in their mind that Kai would go berserk with self-conscious rage.

* * *

Whatever rational thought had been running through Kakashi's head when he lunged to stop the samurai was turned to mush by now. All he could really focus on now were the surprised, hawk-like tawny eyes staring down at him and the close proximity the owner of the eyes' body was with his.

He idly wondered why he hadn't noticed the two large, red black-tipped feathers in her hair before.

True, she was still wearing her armor, but it was just his luck that his hand had latched on to the sliver of unprotected space between the backside of the black layered chest plate and the scarlet sash that held her two _katana_ in place on her left.

Her hands were gripping his vest out of instinct from their collision, and from her grip as well as the toned, firm feeling of her back told him she wasn't a pushover.

Well, she was right, she probably wouldn't need saving.

Kai was the first to snap out of it and shoved herself off; she didn't look angry, or embarrassed. Actually, her expression became completely stoic, but her could see in her eyes that she was silently furious with the Hokage; that is, if the fact that they were taking on a reddish tinge around the edge were of indication.

Same as her cheeks.

_Smiiiiirrrrirk_.

"For shame, Kai. This is what you do when we're not around?"

**FUCK.**

Much to the embarrassment of the samurai, he recognized the new, slightly teasing voice from the doorway as the tall samurai that had saved his student and his friend from the landmine, sans armor; in place of his heavy lacquered armor was the traditional samurai garb tied with a blue sash, except unlike Kai's his were white, navy and black.

Judging by the arms-folded-and-leaned-against-the-door pose, he didn't look too pleased.

"Shut up, Jin. Your timing was bad."

That got her the often-used, skeptical raised-eyebrow look used in similar situations that said quite clearly, 'oh, really?'.

Kai glared in return; Kakashi almost flinched when he caught sight of the fierce red that now mingled with the sharp gold color of her eyes.

* * *

"Never mind… are our supplies packed up and loaded?"

"Ready to go, but there's only one problem; the pass through the Fukuyama Mountains, the Michi Pass, was blocked by a mudslide. Even with a good Earth-style _udemae_, there's no way we'd be able to get through."

Kai scowled.

"Dammit… what are our other options?"

Jin sighed; that meant they couldn't be good.

"Only two; we can either 1) Try and find another pass, but that would be extremely hazardous; the mudslide was caused by nearly 2 straight weeks of rain, so the majority of the area around the Fukuyama Mountains would be in equal or worse condition.

"2) We'll have to make a detour through the Wave Country up into the Sand Country; the West Shogun lives nearby one of the ports and could give us a lift by ferry around and over the Sound Country."

Kai paused, apparently deep in thought.

"How bad was the rain?"

"Typhoon-bad."

The younger samurai looked over at the ninja, who had been watching the whole time. Her eyes went to Tsunade, immediately reminding herself that she was a medic-nin.

"If we take the detour route and stop maybe once every 2 days, how long would it take us to get there?"

"About a week and a half."

_Groan._

"We don't have that kind of time. Tanaro needs a doctor a lot sooner than that."

"I don't think we have another choice, Kai."

_Siiiiiiigggghhhhh._

"If we leave now, we may be able to cut off a day or two." Kai looked up at Jin, suddenly set back into her normal Leader Mode. "Get Tanaro and meet me at the gate we're leaving through."

She turned to Gai.

"Is your team already packed up?"

"My team is always ready!"

"Alright then. Cyclops, hurry home and pack. We leave in 20 minutes."

* * *

_Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck-fuck fuckity FUCK!_

Had Kai said it out loud, she would expect one of Yuuya's annoyingly joking 'watch your damn language!' prods. Frankly, she didn't like the idea of having the obnoxious pink-haired _kunoichi_ Sakura with them; as far as she could tell, she was a deadweight.

Aside from healing minor wounds, which Seyuno could do when she was probably still at the academy, she had no real special skill nor the ability to heal wounds infected with the _ki_ of another samurai.

At the moment, the arrangements were that the ninja were walking, sitting in the cart pulled by Tanaro's and Seyuno's horses, or riding behind one of the samurai; more specifically, Kakashi and Gai were walking, Sakura and Tenten were riding in the cart, and Lee and Neji were sitting behind (in order) Keiji and Hiroyuki.

As for the others, there were also a –cough- select few who would make this much more difficult than it had to be.

Lee and Gai, for instance; they were both disbelievingly **loud**, and putting into consideration how large a role stealth played in the skills of a _bushi_, it would be hard to get by unnoticed.

Tenten wasn't as much of a hindrance; the only problem was, she and Sakura were both staring dreamily at Yuuya, who was fully aware of it and going into the dreaded Flirt Mode. Hiroyuki, who found such things to be irritating, would look over every now and then to shoot his younger subordinate one of his 'Swallow-A-Knife-And-Die©' looks.

Neji didn't ever really speak, which immediately put him in Kai's good graces. Kakashi, well, he was just following them, reading his little orange book. The only noise he made was the occasional perverted chuckle, but it was enough to make her want to burn it.

Stupid _hentaisha._ (**Hentaisha- Perverted person**)

Like Neji, Jin wasn't saying anything either. It wasn't that surprising. While Hiroyuki was busy being aggravated by Yuuya and Keiji was contemplating why he was there, the eldest samurai was always on full alert, even if he didn't look it. Seyuno was just concentrating on alternating his attention from Tanaro to the road, and Kai, well, she _never_ let her guard down- she was coiled like a spring, twenty-four-seven.

Reason number one why to never sneak up on her. You'll lose something.

Like a hand.

The phoenix samurai subconsciously leered, but just as quickly shook it off.

She looked at their surroundings; they'd been traveling all day since noon, and the sun was beginning to set by now, which meant they'd gone 5 hours. They were making good time, though. They'd already taken the ferry over the river border into the country of the Waves, which had cut off a day of traveling.

They'd go another full day before stopping to rest.

"Seiyantari-dono."

The leader of the small band looked back at Neji, who had spoken. Wow, now she had even more respect for this guy; so far, he was the only ninja to know to address a samurai by their surname and then as –dono rather than –san, –kun or –chan.

"You said our destination is the Ayukawa mountain range; correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've studied of the Earth Country mountains, the Ayukawa range is the least inhabited. How can there be a samurai village, let alone run by the North Shogun, in a place like that?"

Kai smirked. So he was relatively intelligent as well.

"So glad you asked. Before I launch into an explanation, which of the mountains on your map were labeled?"

"I recall Mount Shenlong, the Three Tomoe, Mount Erukane and Mount Iwa."

"Then that would explain it, because none of those six are where we're headed. The samurai capital is located on Mount Daijo, and it's called Kaneyama, Gold Mountain."

By now, Sakura, Tenten and Lee were all listening in earnest, and it was written on all their faces that they were fascinated by the samurai capital of the North.

"But Seiyantari-dono!" Lee started, his hand raised, much like an eager student with the answer to a difficult problem.

(_Yes! That's two –dono's!_- There was a chibi Kai doing a Snoopy dance inside her head) "If it is so hard to reach, why is it the capital in the Earth Country?"

_Grrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnn._

"That's for you to find out when we get there."

* * *

"Your shift's done, Jin."

The bear samurai, who was leaned up against a tree, only nodded to acknowledge the aide memoire as well as confirm that he wasn't sleeping on the job.

Nearly 2 straight days of travel, and they were all tired. However, Kai being Kai reminded them that they'd all have to suffer through an hour-long guard shift at some point during the night. Being the leader, she insisted on taking the middle shift. It wasn't as hard as the first, but it was longer since she was filling in for Tanaro.

Kai yawned and sat up, her body suddenly becoming aware that it needed to wake up quickly for the shift. She glanced over to where the ninja were sleeping.

_One, two, three, four, five…_

Great. Kakashi wasn't there.

"Looking for me?"

Surprised by the sudden voice, in the blink of an eye she had the masked jounin in an arm bar and pinned against the tree behind her.

"Tense, aren't we."

She scowled at his back, attempting to glare a hole through his vest.

"And you aren't tense enough. At least I'll be on-guard if anything gets too close."

If it she could see his face, she probably would have seen an infuriating smirk. The visible, upside-down 'U' eye would have to do.

"I'll be sure to stay on your good side then."

"You missed that window of opportunity."

Kai's scowl darkened before she released him. Kakashi rubbed the wrist of the arm she grabbed, looking slightly surprised.

"I'll give you this, you have quite the grip."

The samurai grinned.

"Nice try, Cyclops, but if it's strength you're worried about, keep an eye on Jin." She jerked her thumb behind her at the aforementioned _bushi_.

Kakashi glanced over at the taller samurai; Jin was glaring at him out of one eye.

"He's strong enough to bend steel relatively easily, and with his bare hands."

By the time he looked back, Kai had already walked away and was clad in her armor again; she was just tying her sash as he turned around.

Up close, he could see just how worn the armor was; it was covered in scratches and other abrasions he hadn't noticed before; it was probably as old as the cracked phoenix mask that now hung from a loop on her belt.

"I take it you aren't the first to use this armor?"

Kai gave an 'un' as a No as she set her _kabuto_ helmet on her head and tied the knot under her chin.

"Now if you don't mind, I have a double shift to take. You'll want to get some rest, because when we get up tomorrow we won't stop for another two days." She said as she took her mask off her belt and slipped it on over her face.

"Nah. I'll keep you company."

_Shit._

"Seriously, you don't have to."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to get rid of me."

There was that infuriating grin again.

"I'd say you didn't know any better, then."

Kakashi put a hand over his heart in a gesture meant to look hurt.

"Aw, that hurts, Kai. You're not still mad about what happened back at the Hokage's office, are you?"

She raised an eyebrow under her mask.

"No, it's the fact that you think it's fun to remind me of that, which also reminds me of something I don't want to be reminded _of_. **Dekimasu ka?**" (Understand?)

"_Hai, Kai-chan._" He said with a mock-salute.

**_GLARE._**

"I hate you."


	3. The Gold Mountain

**Code of the Samurai**

**The Gold Mountain**

* * *

**Kai-Sensei:** _Alright! Now I'm that much closer to getting the other OC's in the fic! Enjoy, mortals!_

POLL!!!

**Who is your favorite male OC?**

**Yuuya **

**Jin **

**Keiji **

**Hiroyuki **

**Seyuno **

**Tanaro**

* * *

"Status report." 

Kai didn't even turn around as Jin dropped down from the trees followed closely by Lee and Neji. She didn't fail to catch the slight grimace from Jin; apparently he was starting to feel the affliction of those broken ribs, and now that his armor (or rather, what wasn't destroyed) was completely useless, he was more vulnerable. Kai couldn't help but feel guilty that even though it was very old and battered, her own armor was still wearable and working.

"Area is secure." Jin informed. "Nothing but the bridge and water."

Hiroyuki and Kai exchanged looks; they'd already explained to the ninja why it was necessary to check any place that they would be open to attack…

* * *

_"Why have we stopped?" _

_The ninja looked to Kai, who had her hand in the air to signal a halt. She turned her eyes, then motioned with the raised hand towards her left; Jin quickly dismounted and leapt up into the trees. _

_"Seiyantari-dono?" _

_"Shush." _

_Lee paused before he tried again, this time in a much quieter voice. _

_"Seiyantari-dono, what is wrong?" _

_Kai looked back; her eyes had taken on that predatory look again. _

_"There have been reports of a member of an organization called the Kuroi Yuri around this area. They're basically the samurai version of your Akatsuki, but possibly more dangerous." _

_Neji and Lee needed no other hints and raced off after Jin. Kai scanned the area around them warily, and as she passed the two jounin, Kakashi couldn't help but feel like she was staring straight through him._

* * *

Kai nodded before flicking her hand forward, giving the command to move forward. As they maneuvered through the trees onto the bridge, Kakashi noticed that Kai's hand had migrated down to the sheath holding _Seigi To Kinkou_ (Justice and Balance), her thumb poised under the hand guard to flick out the _katana_ and make it easier to draw. 

They reached the bridge, but almost as soon as Kai's horse set a hoof on the cement, she went still. Her grip on her sword tensed, hesitated for only a split second, and then moved up to _Shinsei-Na Seijaku_.

What happened next surprised even the shinobi. In the time it took for Kakashi to watch which of her swords Kai would have ready, two samurai had appeared standing on the edge of the cart, both in fighting stances and ready to draw their swords.

In the same instant, Kai appeared with one foot on each side of the cart, head down and with both _katana_ drawn, each one pointed at one samurai's throat. Just the way she was standing, slightly bent over with her face unseen because of her helmet's visor, somehow gave her the aura of someone with deadly intentions.

Now that they were frozen in place, Kakashi recognized the two would-be samurai that worked for Gatou back when they'd had the body guarding assignment with Tazuna the bridge builder; the shorter one with the purple hat and silver hair, the other with the brown hair and bizarre topknot.

* * *

Sakura and Tenten, who were sitting right below Kai, only stared upward at the samurai. Her swords were mere millimeters away from her enemies' throats, and she had her eyes closed. She was panting slightly, probably from whatever it was she had to do to appear so amazingly fast. 

The two enemy samurai stood totally frozen, while Kai's comrades had all gone for their weapons and were all ready to attack if need be. Tanaro, whom Sakura had positioned so he was leaned against her as a rather pitiful way of being close enough to protect him, had somehow summoned the strength to do the same with his plum blossom saber at the same speed as the others.

"Fools."

The tone with which Kai spat out the insult was acidic, and it made all of them want to cringe. Her eyes were still closed.

"If you were real samurai, you'd have seen that coming a mile away… or do even **you** not know the _Inazuma Ashi udemae_? It's a one-handed technique." (Lightning Foot Technique)

_So that was why I didn't catch it; her other hand was making signs…_

She slowly turned her head to the shorter one, but her eyes remained closed.

"Wherever your comrades are, tell them to come out if you want to keep your head."

_There are others?_

Neither of the two moved. Impatient, Kai turned to the other samurai, who appeared to be trying not to lose his cool.

"Well? It's not like any of you are hiding your _ki_. Call them out _now_ or you both lose your heads."

Neither of the two had to do anything; from behind the gates and over the rails, another dozen or so would-be bandits appeared looking anything but happy. At that moment, Kai let her eyes slide open halfway; her pupils had narrowed into hawk-like slits, and mingling with the usual tawny-gold color of her eyes was the fiery crimson again.

However, something else caught the attention of the samurai and the jounin; around her eyes were a kind of shadow, similar to the mythical Eye of Horus.

**Eye of Horus talisman **

Jin and Hiroyuki both narrowed their eyes; obviously, this wasn't a good sign.

"Dammit Kai… don't let Mikoto slip…" Hiroyuki growled.

* * *

From where Kakashi was standing, three kunai in his hand ready to let fly, he could see the rigid, tense samurai from the Wave Country staring with identical 'Oh shit' looks, while Kai was now standing more upright and prepared to guillotine someone. 

At the word 'Mikoto' from Hiroyuki, something seemed to click in his mind as he visualized the Shinto sun goddess, but it wasn't the traditional kimono-clad deity; it was a bird, a huge, elegant bird with a gold exoskeleton of armor, massive crimson wings, and a flaming mane at the back of its neck. Around the ankles of its huge taloned feet were heavy shackles, but with short chains that were attached to no anchor.

The same marks around its eyes adorned Kai's, and just like the phoenix samurai, its black and white eyes held menace, the kind only possessed by a very angry bird of prey.

Deciding to take a chance, the two Wave Country samurai leapt back out of the way of Kai's swords; the latter did nothing to try and lash out, but instead sheathed her swords, looking almost annoyed.

"Bandits. You're pitiful excuses for swordsmen." Kai spat.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi caught two of the bandits behind the teenage samurai drawing their weapons, one of them a short _tanto_ dagger and the other a pair of Sun and Moon knives.

It was no effort to fling the kunai in his hand at the thief with the dagger and knock it out of his hands, but he didn't catch whatever it was that went whistling by and pinned the Sun and Moon knives to the bridge gate until it was embedded into the wood; an arrow with a falcon feather tied to it.

He glanced back from where it came; Yuuya gave him the thumbs-up as if to say 'we kick ass, huh?'.

Kai glanced back at the two of them.

"Yuuya. Kakashi. You stay here. Everyone else, go ahead; we'll take care of them."

Yuuya nodded and dismounted before motioning with one hand at Neji to take his horse; the jounin did so without question.

"I will fight too, Seiyantari-dono!"

Kai looked almost embarrassed as both Lee and Gai stepped forward; the former who had spoken, assuming a pose almost identical to the one his sensei had struck in the Hokage's office.

"I don't think we need that many…"

She would have protested further, but the bandits were growing edgy and impatient- the proof was in the bandit that flying tackled Kai off the cart. The phoenix samurai, not taken by surprise even for a second and who was now looking thoroughly fed up with the thieves, got her feet on the bandit's stomach and threw him off midair.

She landed a little awkwardly skidding backwards while the thief landed not-so-gracefully on his back.

"Get them!"

As the bandits charged at the command, Kai turned back to the others.

"GO!"

Jin spurred his horse into a gallop away from the fight; the other horses followed without command. Kai sprung to her feet and bolted at the group of robbers to join the others, whipping out her steel fans as she did so.

* * *

To be honest, Kakashi was sorely disappointed by the thief samurais' skill; he sighed as he deflected a sword with a kunai and drove his knee into the bandit's stomach. The thief doubled over in pain, giving him time to whirl around and roundhouse punch another in the face. 

"HYA!!"

Behind him, he caught a glimpse of Kai slashing and beating off three of the bandits with her unfolded fans. The marks around her eyes were fully visible now in dark ebony, but if it was unusual, Yuuya was paying it no mind.

Kai leapt backwards as one bandit almost as tall as Jin lunged forward with his spear pointed at her; she quickly stuck her fans back into her sash and formed several hand signs in rapid succession.

"_Hai Shunshin!_" (**Ash Flicker**)

He didn't catch the spoken command for the technique; all Kakashi really remembered was a gut-wrenching horror as the bandit drove his spear through her aged, now-brittle breastplate and into her chest and out the other side.

"KAI!!!"

However, no sooner had he yelled out to the impaled samurai did she start to turn gray; a form made of ash in Kai's likeness crumbled into a pile… it was a substitution. The bandit, surprised and confused by the fact that there was no longer a body on his spear, had no time to turn around when he felt a menacing aura behind him.

It seemed almost like déjà vu only in reverse as a metal blade was projected out the bandit's stomach from the back, not by a katana, but a _wakizashi_- _Saigo Seijaku_, the blade of _seppuku_.

(**Seppuku- Ritual Suicide; Wakizashi- sword about 16" long**)

"You call yourself a samurai, so I will give you the honor of dying like a samurai."

As she uttered these words, Kai forcefully twisted the sword so the sharp end was now facing up, then jerked it upwards before yanking it back out again and kicking the dead bandit forward onto his face.

The remaining thieves (finally seeming to get after a brutal ninja and samurai-style beating) knowing that the group meant business, all fled towards the shelter of the forest, some of them abandoning their weapons.

Yuuya looked worriedly at his commander; there was now a large hole in the center of the chest plate in Kai's armor. Apparently, it was now as useless as Jin's.

Paying no mind to the astonished and somewhat-shaken looks of the others, Kai simply walked up to the body of the dead bandit, cleaned her _wakizashi_ off on his shirt, and continued walking in the direction of their caravan.

Deciding to take the initiative, Yuuya followed.

"C'mon. Let's go."

* * *

"Well, you always said you should have gotten your own armor instead of taken your grandfather's…" 

"Shut up."

Two days, and now that Kai had taken double shifts and no longer had useable armor, it was no wonder she looked so stressed. The fact that Kakashi and even Yuuya were still poking fun at her in a futile attempt to make her laugh was making her mood even worse.

Suddenly, she had a pretty good idea how Hiroyuki felt.

However, she was keeping her spirit up at the prospect of the fact that by traveling at the rate they were going at, they would arrive at the Ayukawa Mountains in half the time Jin had predicted. The aforementioned bear samurai was actually glad to be wrong.

Currently, they were taking shifts on the horses or in the cart, and at the moment, Kai was trying to resist the urge to throw something (like a rock) at the back of the silver-haired jounin's head.

Damn him and that infuriating smirk of his.

Beside her, Jin took notice of the younger samurai's drooping posture and stamina; after their little battle with the thieves on the bridge, it was just their luck to run into a couple of teenagers in distress at a waterfall; one of them had fallen in and couldn't swim. Kai, without bothering to listen to the others' protests, had dove into the swift current and managed to retrieve the shaken girl and almost drowned in the process.

It wasn't that she wasn't a good swimmer; it was that water was the opposite to her element and for some reason had side effects when she got wet.

"Kai."

"Nnn." She groaned in response when he lightly tapped her shoulder; the poor kid was exhausted and very literally about to fall asleep on her feet.

"If you're tired, just say so."

He received a glare, not that he didn't expect it; on top of being stubborn and temperamental, she was tough.

A little too tough for her own good, sometimes…

Of course, her being tired outweighed her pride, and she made no move to protest when Jin effortlessly hauled her up piggy-back behind him. He almost smirked when her head dropped heavily onto his shoulder.

_Heh. Just like Naomi._

He smiled at the thought of his 6-year-old daughter; the smile became a thoughtful look as the face of his wife came to mind.

_Miiya. I'll be home soon._

* * *

"Approaching the dock on the starboard side!" 

The captain's yell was almost drowned out by the waves lapping up against the hull of the ferry and the wind that were stirring them up. On one side of the wooden ferry was the group of samurai mulling around on deck; a day's worth of traveling by sea had left all of them except Seyuno wishing for dry, solid ground.

Yuuya, who was unusually silent (probably so as not to get seasickness from opening his mouth) held up his fist as what looked like a small hawk with a blue ribbon around its ankle alit on it.

Before they'd left the coast, the falcon samurai had gone missing for several hours before returning with his hunting kestrel, apparently now one of many birds who migrated North during the scorching hot days of late August.

Kumori, as the small bird of prey was called, bobbed his head as if to inquire of his master what was wrong. Yuuya pursed his lips and made a chirping noise, laughing when Kumori clicked his beak angrily in reply.

**(Kumori- Cloud)**

Kai rolled her eyes, not impressed.

She'd seen it a hundred times; one of Yuuya's many useless 'talents' (like belching), was that he could supposedly talk to birds.

If he could, then there were quite a few times he failed to realize how handy the ability would be.

Of course, it wasn't really the lack of solid ground that pissed her off; it was her pride that she'd let herself fall asleep. If it weren't for the fact that Jin was her best friend, she'd have maimed him by now for the prank he pulled.

* * *

**_Mehhhh…. Shit, don't tell me I fell asleep. _**

_The last thing Kai recalled was swearing in Mandarin at herself for being too weak to handle even two days of traveling… _

_Oh, right. _

_She was letting Jin carry her piggy-back because she was falling asleep on her feet. _

_However, when she decided it would be a good idea to open her eyes, she was anything but happy to see that Jin had apparently tired of hauling her around. _

_"YOU!?" _

_Kakashi turned around, naturally wearing that maddening smirk that she had yet to wipe off his face. Jin, who was behind them on foot, didn't bother trying to disguise his laughter at the younger samurai's anger and surprise- he'd been smirking the whole time since he handed Kai over to Kakashi when he made the offer to carry her for a while. _

_Apparently, they'd both been counting on her waking up. _

_"PUT ME DOWN **HENTAISHA**!!" _

_Just so as not to piss her off any more, he let go of her legs; however, Kai had been prepared to punch him in the back of the head and didn't think to hold onto his shoulders as he did so and wound up landing not-so-gracefully on the ground. _

_"Eh, heh…" _

**_"JIN!!!"_**

* * *

"Is she still mad about that?" 

Jin shrugged; a few days, and he was slowly starting to gain respect for the jounin. However, that didn't mean he wasn't still wary of him.

"Yeah, about that… Kai can hold a grudge for a long time." He sighed.

Kakashi sighed, assuming a similar pose leaned against the side of the ferry. Geez, Kai was just like an angry Naruto. Who was worse, he didn't really know.

"Cheer up. At least she hasn't stabbed you for touching her, so you can at least say she doesn't hate you entirely."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"….not really."

_Sigh._

"Hey."

Jin's tone had gone from sociable to serious again; not good.

"Cut her some slack. She's had it pretty hard even with her social status, so it's not her fault she's as untrusting as she is."

_I can understand that._

Jin continued.

"I know from experience, she's stubborn as hell and even more independent. Just try not to prod into something that might make her remember something she doesn't want to remember."

_"…something that I don't want to be reminded **of**."_

So, that was what she was talking about.

"Hurt her, and I'll do to you what I did to the man who harmed my wife."

Kakashi gave a slight smile to show he wasn't offended.

"Dare I ask what became of him?"

Jin folded his arms and scowled darkly; damn, he looked scary when he was pissed. He mentally thanked Kai for forewarning him about Jin's strength.

"He's still breathing through a tube."

_Cringe._

"Alright, everybody off, we gotta head off again in an hour!"

Yuuya practically threw himself onto dry land, muttering in Mandarin that he would never sail again. Of course, he jumped right back onto the boat when Kai's horse decided to follow his example and leaped onto the land where his head was a moment ago.

Hiroyuki rolled his eyes while Kai just sighed.

"Enough fooling around, lets get a move on."

* * *

If the dark clouds at sea were of indication, the distant thunder as well as the rumbling overhead was enough to convince any of them that there was a storm coming. However, there was something menacing about the presence of thunder and lightning, more so than it usually was. 

Hiroyuki seemed especially tense.

The caravan was walking single-file up the switchback path around one of the mountains they'd have to get around to reach Mount Daijo; at the pace they were going at, they would reach the Northern Capital before nightfall.

Seyuno glanced back at Tanaro, looking like he was in just as much pain as the latter. Even his best efforts weren't proving to do much to fend off the foreign _ki_, and Tanaro was starting to give even fighting with every shred of tolerance he had.

Even Sakura was starting to realize the gravity of his injury.

"Damn it!"

The others looked up to Kai who had sworn. As if sensing their question she pointed upwards; not far up and ahead was the bridge they had to cross, but a large part of the middle was gone. All that was really left was two wings of the sides connected to the mountains.

Jin, who was on foot and leading his horse, studied it a moment then continued walking.

"I can fix it."

Kai cast a worried glance in his direction, but urged her horse to keep walking again.

* * *

Several switchbacks up, the extent of the damage to the bridge seemed a lot worse; on top of the middle being gone, the stone around it was crumbling. Apparently, the same storm that had passed through the Fukuyama Mountains had hit here as well.

"Hold on," Jin stopped them and held out a hand to signal them to stop. "Let me go first."

Kai dismounted and took his horse's reigns in her free hand; Jin stepped onto the bridge, but as he walked out further his steps became more cautious and his posture more tense and alert. As he reached the middle of the bridge where it cut off, the stone beneath him gave a little.

Seeing just how the bridge was damaged, Jin formed several hand signs before he stepped back into what looked a lot like a defensive fighting pose.

"_Jishin Shinkoushoku Suru._" **(Jishin- Earthquake; Shinkoushoku Suru- Erosion)**

Below the bridge, the eroded mud and rock made a low rumbling noise as it was loosened from the mountain and slithered up the beams of the bridge to fill the gap between the two sides.

Jin raised his hands slowly until they were about up to the height of his shoulders, much in the way someone would do lifting something very heavy.

"Yuuya, freeze the bridge in place!"

The falcon samurai, needless to say, ran out onto the bridge, forming hand signs as he did so; however, this time they could hear him naming the signs.

"_Tori tou Kitsune tou Tori tou Hitsuji tou Tori…_"

(**Tori- Bird; Kitsune- Fox; Hitsuji- Ram)**

An icy blue aura enveloped Yuuya's right hand as the _udemae_ started to take effect. Yuuya came up behind Jin before leaping up over his head, the aura around his hand now dragged out into a tail that was probably as long as Jin was tall.

"_Fubuki no Harui!_" (Wings of the Blizzard)

(**Fubuki- Blizzard; Harui- Wings**)

Gravity took effect as the falcon samurai started to come down again, but as he did Yuuya swung his arm around like a roundhouse punch, sweeping a trail of frigid air and ice in the shape of an enormous bird's wing over the soggy earth that had taken the shape of the bridge.

The rocky mud, now hardened and caked with frost (much to the relief of the group) didn't give when Jin dropped the Earthquake Erosion technique.

What was more surprising was the ghost of a smile on Kai's face.

"Ha; opposite elements _do_ work best together."

* * *

"Five and a half days. That's gotta be a record or somethin'." Yuuya mused aloud. 

They were less than an hour away from the samurai capital of the North, and the time that it had taken them to get there was a little more than a third of the time they'd thought. Of course by now, all any of them really wanted was a day (or two) to sleep.

However, Tanaro's condition was slowly declining, and it was starting to show as he started to occasionally drift out of consciousness.

Seyuno probably spent half the time turned around muttering encouragement to his injured best friend.

"When we reach the city gates, let me do the talking." Kai advised the group. "They may find it suspicious that we have so many outsiders, so to speak."

Tenten glanced at the group of samurai.

"Wait… you're not all from Kaneyama?"

Yuuya laughed.

"Hardly. Only Jin and Kai are from Kaneyama. The rest of us just sort of, I dunno, drifted to them. I'm from Nakashima, which is located in your Grass Country."

"I'm from Fujibayashi in the Wave Country, same as Keiji." Seyuno added, jerking his thumb in the direction of his friend who smirked.

"Tanaro is from Edagawa in Thunder Country, and Hiroyuki is from Suzukuro in the deep Southern area of Fire Country." Kai explained. "There are a lot more samurai villages than I think they tell you about."

They continued on their way up the path, and if you looked out at the rest of the mountains, the mist and fog some half a mile below looked like the clouds and gave the sense of a greater accomplishment getting up that far. The path grew wider, and the otherwise uneven, rocky trail became smooth; someone had groomed the path, and every now and then along the side of the road against the mountains was the occasional traveler or tiny _Shinto_ statues.

"Wow… it's so pretty up here!" Sakura mused. Tenten nodded in agreement, still looking around.

The path had gone into a grove of trees, the edge no longer in sight. At the end of the long clearing, Kai could easily see from the front of the caravan that they were there; the Northern Samurai Capital, Kaneyama. The Mountain of Gold.

The gates built into the rock were massive, as large as the ones leading in and out of Konoha. Unlike the _shinobi_ gates which were painted with red _hiragana_, the gates of Kaneyama were decorated by a mural of a mountain and a long pillar of Mandarin characters faded by sun and weather.

At the top, two guards on each side looked down.

"State your names and your business!" One guard in an owl mask called down.

"My name is Seiyantari Kaida, and I'm here with an injured ally _bushi_! These shinobi are escorts generously provided by the Hokage of Konoha, and the others are either natives or comrades in arms!"

The owl-masked guard exchanged looks with his partner, another samurai in a dog mask similar to Keiji's; the sense of shock seemed to generate pride in Kai.

"Open the gates!"

The enormous wood and metal gates protested at their having to open, but as they did, it revealed a town teeming with life and activity, somehow retaining a kind of traditional feel, that seemed to halt to catch a glimpse of the new arrivals.

Kai urged the horses forward into the town, and the crowds parted, many of the civilians greeting the new arrivals as well as welcoming back their two natives. What was interesting was that Kai was being referred to not as Seiyantari-dono, but –sama.

Gai, also seeming to notice the change, leaned over to Seyuno so to be heard over the noise.

"Yamada-dono, why is everyone addressing Kai-dono as Seiyantari-sama?"

Seyuno looked at him with an expression of comical disbelief.

"You mean you don't know?"

He got a blank stare.

"The Shogun is Seiyantari Akahito; Kai's grandfather. She may very well be the next Shogun of the Northern Capital."

* * *

As the crowd thinned out (Yuuya groaned in disappointment as they moved on; he was rather enjoying being swooned over by the local girls), the group continued through the town up to the towering structure at the far end of the town; Jin pointed it out as Yakei Yousai, Watchman Fortress. 

At the long staircase before the entrance, they dismounted and handed over their horses to the guards; Seyuno had already left with Tanaro to the nearest doctor, courtesy of the guide of a squire milling around the grounds.

"Jin."

The bear samurai glanced at his leader, already listening.

"You can go home; you've been away from home long enough."

Jin smiled, grateful for the break.

"You're too generous, Kai. Best of luck with Shogun-sama."

Kai grinned; somehow, she strongly resembled Naruto doing that. It was cute, but very creepy at the same time.

"I won't need it. Tell Chiyuko-san I say '_nihao_'." (**Nihao- Chinese for Hello**)

"Will do."

* * *

"Akahito-sama will see you now." 

Kai smirked; she'd already explained that because of the fact that there were 2 Seiyantari clan members in the Shogun's court, the guard, servants and other workers of the palace had to get used to calling the two by their first names.

"Same as the gate; let me do the talking, and bow when you're introduced. If you have to say something, be as polite as you can, but try to avoid being an ass-kisser."

Kakashi grinned at the humorous emphasis placed on the last part of the statement.

"C'mon."

The large doors leading into the Shogun's court opened as two guards pulled them open. Seated at the top of a rather short flight of steps was the Shogun himself in his flowing gold, crimson and black robes, and next to him was a scribe in the same red and gold uniforms as the rest of the palace workers.

"Well, if it isn't our little Meijin prodigy. It's been a long time Kaida, five months now?"

Kai grimaced at the use of her full name; she could practically _hear_ the smirk on Kakashi's face. Dammit.

"Actually sir, almost seven."

"And it seems your travels have brought you many interesting new friends." He said with what looked like a smirk. Scary part of it was, he strongly resembled Kai when he did.

"You could say that, sensei."

The Shogun rose to his feet and walked down the stairs. Up close, they could see the Seiyantari tawny eyes, but something about the Shogun's seemed wiser.

He stopped in front of his granddaughter, who bowed with her hands folded in front of her.

"Welcome back, Kaida. And to the rest of you, I welcome you to Kaneyama."


	4. Profiles Added by request!

**Name:** Seiyantari Kaida "Kai"

**Nickname(s):** Fushichou (Phoenix), Meijin (Master)

**Age:** 19½

**Gender:** Female

**Height:** 5'7"

**Eyes:** Tawny (Gold-red during Phoenix Effect)

**Hair:** Dark Brown w/ 2 black-tip red feathers (White during Phoenix Effect)

**Clan:** Black Lotus/Bird

**Status:** Elite- Traveling

**Enemy Clan(s):** Tenkari (White Lotus), Shintoko (Winged Serpent)

**Weapon(s):** Twin katana, bow and arrows, Tie Shan (iron fans)

**Sword- Right:** Shinsei-Na Seijaku (Divine Silence)

**Sword- Left:** Seigi To Kinkou (Justice And Balance)

**Mask:** Phoenix- White w/ red marks, black kanji

**Armor Colors:** Black, Gold and Crimson

**Specialty:** **Fire** element, **Wind** element, Healing (Fushichou no Ka Namida- Phoenix Tears)

**Persona:** Friendly, focused, cool, agreeable, relaxed, serious

**Physique:** Muscular- powerful build (intensive training), red Phoenix birthmark (left arm), _bushido_ tattoo on back of left shoulder

**Hometown:** Kaneyama

**Horse: **Kage (Shadow- black stallion)

**Summon(s):** Mikoto- Phoenix Twin (Internal Spirit), Kanotori- Phoenix Twin

* * *

**Name:** Kumano Jin

**Nickname(s):** Shii (Death), Kuma, Tsume

**Age:** 27

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'6" (215 lbs **o.O**)

**Eyes:** Brown

**Hair:** Navy

**Clan:** Bear

**Status:** Elite- Traveling

**Enemy Clan(s):** Azarashi (Seal)

**Weapon(s):** Single katana, Zanbatou

**Sword- Right:** Kuma Tsume (Bear Fang)

**Zanbatou:** Shinigami (God of Death- Inherited from Father)

**Mask:** Bear- gray w/ dark green marks, white kanji

**Armor Colors:** Charcoal, Silver and Gold

**Specialty:** Brute force/attack power, **Earth** element

**Horse: **Ichigo (Strawberry- gray mare Miiya named her)

**Summon(s): **Jishin- Armored Grizzly

**Persona:** Fatherly; protective, easily amused, friendly, patient

**Physique:** Muscled, very tall, extremely strong

**Hometown:** Kaneyama

* * *

**Name:** Hayashita Yuuya

**Nickname(s):** Shageki (Marksman)

**Age:** 20

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'1"

**Eyes:** Green

**Hair:** Brown

**Clan:** Falcon

**Status:** Advanced- Runaway

**Enemy Clan(s):** Shintoko (Winged Serpent)

**Weapon(s):** Single katana, bow and arrows

**Sword- Left:** Yuukan-Na Kokoro (Brave Heart)

**Mask:** Falcon- white and green- gold line on green marks

**Armor Colors:** Green, Brown and Gold

**Specialty:** Speed attacks, accuracy, **Wind** element

**Horse: **Shika (Deer- white mare w/ brown spots)

**Summon(s): **Sanji- Cobra

**Persona:** Humorous, goofy, klutzy (purposely), slightly perverted (XD), hotheaded

**Physique:** Tall, lithe, slender build, fairly strong

**Hometown:** Nakashima

* * *

**Name:** Daikyu Tanaro (STARTS OFF INJURED)

**Nickname(s):** Sakana (Fish)

**Age:** 21

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'0"

**Eyes:** Blue

**Hair:** Brown

**Clan:** Fish

**Status:** Advanced- Traveling

**Enemy Clan(s):** Shizuunae (Magnolia)

**Weapon(s):** Single katana, bow and arrows, plum blossom saber

**Sword- Right:** No Meiyo (Of Honor)

**Saber:** Inagaouhou (Karma)

**Mask:** Porpoise- white w/ navy marks, blue kanji

**Armor Colors:** Blue, Black and Bronze

**Specialty:** Defense, **Water **element

**Horse: **Hoshi (Star- white stallion)

**Summon(s): **Umi- Giant squid

**Persona:** Easily amused, peacemaker, perfectionist, short fused, impatient

**Physique:** Agile, slender build, average muscle tone

**Hometown:** Edagawa

* * *

**Name: **Yamada Seyuno

**Nickname(s):** Nami (Wave), Kisame

**Age:** 24

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'1"

**Eyes:** Black

**Hair:** Brown

**Clan:** Rain

**Status:** Advanced- Traveling

**Enemy Clan(s):** None

**Weapon(s):** Single katana, bow and arrows, butterfly knives

**Sword- Left:** Umi Youkai (Sea Demon)

**Butterfly Knives:** Yin (Left) and Yang (Right)

**Mask:** Shark- white w/ blue marks, black kanji

**Armor Colors:** Blue, Navy and Silver

**Specialty:** Accuracy, healing, **Water** element

**Horse: **Ryokou (Journey- brown stallion)

**Other animals:** Kestrel- Sora (Sky)

**Summon(s): **Shigura- Water Serpent

**Persona:** Calm, reserved, concentrated, pleasant, thoughtful

**Physique:** Muscled build, tall, slightly lanky

**Hometown:** Fujibayashi

* * *

**Name:** Utariyuma Hiroyuki

**Nickname(s):** Hiro-kun, Sensei (Teacher), Tora

**Age:** 23

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'0"

**Eyes:** Brown

**Hair:** Black

**Clan:** Tiger

**Status:** Elite- Temporary Exile

**Enemy Clan(s):** None

**Weapon(s):** Single katana, bow and arrows, sais

**Sword- Right:** Tora Gatsuuga (Tiger Fang)

**Sais:** Hidari (Left) and Migi (Right)

**Mask:** Tiger- white and bronze

**Armor Colors:** Brown, Bronze and Black

**Specialty:** Attack power, **Fire** element

**Horse: **Otoya (Arrow- White mare)

**Summon(s):** Jukodo- Tiger

**Persona:** Serious, on-guard, taciturn, wound up, reserved

**Physique:** Tall, average build, muscled physique

**Hometown:** Suzukuro

* * *

**Name:** Okazaki Keiji

**Nickname(s):** Ookami (Wolf)

**Age:** 23

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 5'11"

**Eyes:** Gray

**Hair:** Red

**Clan:** Wolf

**Status:** Advanced- Runaway

**Enemy Clan(s):** Jakaruno (Jackal)

**Weapon(s):** Twin katanas, bow and arrows, Hu-Tou-Gou (Hooked Swords)

**Sword- Right:** Akarui Shinjitsu (Shining Truth)

**Sword- Left:** Buraindo Uso (Blind Lie)

**Mask:** Dog- white w/ green marks, white kanji

**Armor Colors:** Green, Gold and Bronze

**Specialty:** Accuracy, flexibility, **Wind** element

**Horse: **Rakota (No meaning- brown stallion w/ white feet)

**Summon(s): **Raikatsuji- 4 tail wolf

**Persona:** Lazy, quiet, relaxed, gloomy

**Physique:** Average height, thin-average build, fast

**Hometown:** Fujibayashi

* * *

**VILLAGE LOCATIONS & CLIMATES**

**Kaneyama-** _Earth Country_

Top of Mount Daijo in Ayukawa Mountain range (Incan style)

Misty, sheltered, fertile, rainy

**Suzukuro-** _Fire Country_

Farmlands; Heichi Plains (Fields)

Warm, sunny, dry

**Fujibayashi-** _Wave Country_

Built below/around Taki Waterfall (Forest/River)

Fertile, lush, forested

**Nakashima-** _Grass Country_

Built into Sanchou Mountain around Kujira Waterfall (Yoshido Mountain range)

Cool, cloudy, rainy

**Edagawa-** _Thunder Country_

Ameto Wetlands (Rice fields and marshes)

Wet, rainy, humid, extremely fertile

**Yokosata-** _Fire Country_ (_Burned to the ground)_

Farmlands- Nohara Plains (Fields)

Destroyed


	5. Kazoku to Seijitsu: Family and Loyalty

**Code of the Samurai**

**Kazoku to Seijitsu- Family and Loyalty**

* * *

**Kai-Sensei:** _Alright, new chapter:D I feel special; other people I don't know like my fic. Thanks for your help during my writers' block!_

_And just so there's no confusion:_

**MANTRA-** _Element/Illusion/etc_

**TETANA-** _Hand-to-Hand _

**KATA-** _Weaponry_

* * *

"Hey, Jin! Long time no see!"

"Kumano-dono! Welcome back!"

Jin smiled and waved back to his neighbors; everything was exactly the same as he remembered it, even after three months. He couldn't help but sigh- it really sucked that he had to spend so much time away from home, but then, it was better than risking his family getting hurt.

As the houses became more sparsely placed and the land around them grew, one such house came into view; the one in front of the small waterfall that fell from the rock walls of the mountain's valley that surrounded Kaneyama.

Out in front, one small girl with pigtails was swinging a stick around, much in the manner of a samurai in training. As she turned around to make a baseball-bat swing, her eyes fell on the samurai.

"Daddy's home!"

The stick was promptly abandoned as she practically threw open the gate and ran to her father's open arms.

"Daddy! I missed you!"

"I missed you too."

The other occupants of the house, hearing the little girl's shouting, emerged from either around the sides of the porch or inside.

"Naomi, what-?"

Standing up, Jin smiled at the woman standing in the doorway.

"Still as beautiful as ever, Miiya."

The brown-haired woman smiled and made her way down the stairs from the porch; five months pregnant, and it was pretty easy to see how it was slowing her down. The bear samurai, now with his daughter sitting up on his shoulders, walked up to the gate with his horse still in tow.

In front of the gate, he paused and pulled a small lilac bud from his sleeve, holding it out to his wife in a manner that to the was all too familiar.

"For you, my lady."

Miiya smiled, blushing slightly.

"You haven't changed at all, Jin."

"Glad to know."

* * *

"Well, well, seems you still do have a few surprises, eh, _Kaida-chan?_"

Kai was silently fuming, growing less and less patient with Yuuya's and Kakashi's teasing. It was bad enough that she had them to put up with at all, but now that they knew what her full name was…

Well, lets just say there was the good possibility of barbeque tonight.

"Will you two **drop it??** You can't say much, _Kakashi._ Or should I start calling you Scarecrow?"

The ninja just grinned.

"But still… Little Dragon? Come on, you have to admit it's funny!" Yuuya laughed.

_GLARE._

The falcon samurai gulped and was silent.

Kai sighed.

It was going to be a long, _long_ three weeks.

* * *

_Ho hum…so boring…_

From up in the branches of a willow tree, if someone had passed under it they would have heard a sigh.

_Dammit. Why can't the fucking school day be **over** already?? It's not like Shingane-sensei ever finds me, and I still have yet to see if its true that Onii-san is home._

The person in thought folded her arms.

She was currently lying on a bough of the willow tree and hidden by its leaves, staring tiredly up at the patch of sky that could be seen where some of the branches had broken off. At the moment, she was waiting out to see if her teacher could find her; it was a rather useless exercise, at least, according to her. Beforehand, half the school had gone off on a little 'excursion' to test their individual survival skills.

Nobody could defeat the great Kumano Chiyuko of the Bear Clan!

She grinned to herself.

Now that her _chi_ was fully developed (it was such a pain waiting for puberty to get around to that) she'd actually made it to the top student in her age group, even despite the fact that she rarely ever used anything but _tetana_.

Of course, she was going to follow her brother's example and keep training until she was 18. Maybe _then_ when she was a full-fledged samurai, people would stop thinking of all female _bushi_ as weaklings.

_Scowl._

As clouds continued to pass by overhead, Chiyuko felt her eyelids growing heavy.

_Meh. At least it'll pass the time._

* * *

"Dammit Chiyuko… you better not have ditched class!"

Shingane-sensei, as she was known to several of her students, paused in the middle of the academy courtyard; she'd already found all but three of her students; the ones that remained were Jidai, Fuyu, and of course, the infamous "soon-to-be Daimyo" Chiyuko.

Gods above- she was the best student, but the biggest handful.

That had to be some kind of bad omen.

As for the other two… well….

Aiwakinou Fuyu was the workaholic, and she was barely able to keep up with Chiyuko and the number two student Taiyuno Jidai. It was strange, to say the least: she and Chiyuko were the worst of enemies, but at the same time best friends. Even though the former was constantly breaking her glasses.

Taiyuno Jidai… well, nobody really knew that much about him. Despite only being 15, he was a very handsome young man that nobody had ever heard speak. Not that they blamed him… the reminder of why he didn't was the scar over his left, now-blind eye.

"Ah-hah! Nice try, Fuyu."

The redhead groaned when she found her- camouflaged by a _mantra_. Being a member of the Wolf Clan, it was practically a second nature to be able to disguise herself. However, since _she_ was a Lion Clan relative, she had the ability to see through them.

"Senryaku-sensei!"

She turned around.

"What is it now, Hideki…" She growled, looking a lot like her cougar summon Shishi as she sent a glare at the class clown. "And I've told you a hundred times that it's SHINGANE-sensei."

Hideki gulped, but continued.

"D'ya think maybe Chiyu-san went home? I mean, I heard that her brother and Shogun-sama's granddaughter returned yesterday."

Senryaku sighed and rubbed her temples.

"I know, I know."

_I also heard about those ninja. She better not have run off to challenge one of them._

Groan.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"You're getting slow, Hiro!"

"HYA!"

Yuuya easily dodged the fist thrown at his face, but regretted it almost immediately when the sun shone in his eyes.

Whose _brilliant_ idea was it to put the training grounds out in the sun?

Hiroyuki, seizing the opportunity, lunged forward and drove his elbow into Yuuya's chest, landing the younger samurai on the ground.

"Who was it you said was getting slow?"

Yuuya rolled his eyes and put his hands up in mock-defeat.

"Fine, you win. _Again_."

Hiroyuki smirked and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Dammit, even up in the mountains, the sun made it way too hot to spar.

But, Yuuya being Yuuya wouldn't let that stop him from provoking the tiger samurai into a brawl. On the sidelines, all of his (cringe) fangirls were cheering for his victory.

Of course, now he knew how Jin felt at the hospital.

"Aw, lighten up Hiro. You should be enjoying this."

"What's to enjoy about getting drooled over by strange women?" He growled.

Yuuya looked almost shocked.

"What? I figured a handsome guy like you would at least have taken an interest in someone by now."

Hiroyuki rolled his eyes. Frankly, he didn't really care if he was good-looking or not. It was still annoying.

"Hey, Hiro, any ideas where Kai went off to?"

Yuuya received a shrug in reply.

"If I know Kai, she's probably somewhere training her ass off. Big surprise."

The younger samurai sighed.

"When is she going to let it go…"

"Until something or someone proves to her that she's not the worthless coward she thinks she is."

* * *

**THWACK!**

"Don't tell me you've gotten lazy and stopped training, Kai. You're getting sloppy."

The teenage samurai glared at her opponent, a staff in hand and panting heavily. Sure, she could handle hot temperatures, but not when it was directly under a blazing sun.

_Fuuuuuuckkk!_

"HAH!!"

She charged again, spinning her staff in one hand with the other ready to take it.

Her opponent, Meijin Ijiri, shifted back into a fighting stance and deflected the oncoming blow. Kai jumped back again, then swung the other end of her staff around, this time effectively knocking it out of the Meijin's hand.

The other end came around again, but instead of completing the blow, it stopped a few inches from the side of his head. Kai, smirking and panting, drew it back.

"How's _that_ for sloppy?"

"Not bad, _seito_. It seems you _have_ improved." Akahito mused from the side.

Both opponents bowed to one another before one of the pages took their staffs to be put away.

"You may go." Akahito shooed away the small servant boy holding the umbrella over his head.

Kai sat down in the grass next to her grandfather, panting and sweating from the work. The only disadvantage of being trained by the six Meijin samurai was that they all wanted her to learn to use their weapons of choice.

Her steel fans worked just fine, thanks.

"Kaida, there is something we need to discuss."

"Like what?"

Akahito sighed.

"Like the upcoming anniversary."

_Wince._

"It hurts, I know. That's why we need to talk."

She knew it was coming. It was the same every year since…_that day_.

"Alright."

* * *

_Damn, it's hot out today._

Chiyuko let her eyes slowly open, her arm shielding them from the sunlight that had shifted to shine on her face since she fell asleep.

Judging by that, it was safe to say it was… about 12 noon, give or take half an hour.

**Groan.**

At least after she turned 17 she wouldn't have to attend the academy anymore; she could go straight back to training with her _sensei_, Saru.

"I will not be beaten!"

"This isn't a race, Lee!"

Chiyuko glanced to her side where she could make out the vague forms of a couple of people jumping over the rooftops, one male one female guessing by the voices. She looked up again as the first figure leaped overhead; it was the female, and it was one of the ninja that had come along.

A couple seconds passed.

_So where's the other one…?_

Her question was answered when something green and orange crashed into the tree a few branches above her. The force of the shaking made her already-sagging branch break.

Chiyuko didn't get the chance to try and land on her feet. That same blur of green jumped down to the ground below her; whoever it was, they were damn _fast._

"I am so sorry! Are you alright _oji-san_?" **(Oji-san; Miss)**

For a moment there, a rather startled bear stared at the apologetic-looking ninja (presumably, Lee), who when he jumped down from the tree had barely saved her the impact of her back on the ground; of course, it didn't take long for the stunned feeling to wear off.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

She whacked the ninja angrily, making a solid connection with the top of his head. While he was distracted by her fist hitting his skull, Chiyuko seized the front of his vest with her other hand before struggling out of his grip and throwing him right back into the tree.

By now, to say she was pissed would be pretty redundant. To say that the ninja she'd hurled back into the tree was amazed as well as impressed would be unbelievable, but true.

"Be grateful I don't have my naginata, perv!" She threatened, shaking her fist for emphasis.

What she was expecting was the typical reaction; running away in terror.

"How rude of me, I have not introduced myself!"

Well…. At least it wasn't typical.

"I am Konoha's Admirable Green Beast, Rock Lee!"

Chiyuko raised an eyebrow at the shining backdrop and odd pose.

"Ooookaaayyyy… this is going to sound stupid and I'm probably going to regret asking this, but….the hell?"

_Pause._

"…I'm gonna go now."

She turned on her heel to leave, but much to her annoyance found her path blocked.

"For my lack of ninja observational skills, I vow to-!"

"Leave me the fuck alone?"

"-no, I vow to-!"

"Go away?? I FELL 5 FEET OUT OF A FREAKING TREE. I'm FINE, dammit."

"No, wait! To make up for it I will do 2,000 pull-ups!"

_This guy is insane._

"Yeah… you do that. I'll just be going now. Have fun."

"WAIT! I have a better idea! I will escort you home!"

Twitch.

…wait a minute.

_IDEA!!!_

Smmmmiiiiirrrkkkkk.

"Okay then, I will give you the honor of walking me home. But when we get there, stand outside the gate for a second."

"YOSH!"

On the outside she was trying to be pleasant, but on the inside, she was cackling.

* * *

_Meiyo o Kegasu_.

It only meant one word, but it still stung even partially covered by halfway unraveled bandages.

Dishonor.

The deepest wound you could inflict on a samurai or samurai-to-be; to claim that a _bushi_ was without honor was the same as killing them. Those who served a _daimyo_ would commit ritual suicide in order to preserve their honor, but she had to live with it.

Not because she wanted to.

Because she had to prove to herself and the scar's inflictor that she was worthy of the title of a samurai.

Kai scowled at the scar on her arm, wishing it were gone. That bastard of a man she used to call sensei would pay for this…

He would pay dearly.

"Kai, I know you want to get back at him for what he did. You have good reason and good intentions, but the reason I make you travel is so that you can keep your mind off of it. If you let this obsession get in the way of your development as a samurai, he may as well be right."

The scowl darkened.

"Now… when you and your friends leave, I want you to take with you some of our soon-to-be samurai."

Kai looked up in alarm.

"What?? But sensei, why-?"

Akahito held up a hand, silencing his student.

"Because, Kaida, it seems that he has other goals in mind; the group you'll be taking with you, including Kumano Jin's family, is in danger of being the next victims of the Kuroi Yuri. One of them is the last survivor of a village and needs to be protected along with his summon Jigoku."

The phoenix sighed and ran a hand through her bangs.

"Who is the last one?"

"Taiyuno Jidai. You recall Yokosata?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It was burned to the ground nearly a month ago. Jidai is the only person we found alive, and even he didn't escape unscathed; his left eye is blind from a slash wound."

There was a long silence, from Kai letting it sink in and Akahito letting his student register the gravity of their situation.

"I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I."

"I'm afraid not."

Kai looked up, her defeated expression turned to one of determination.

"Alright, but before I go, I want you to teach me the healing technique."

* * *

Outside the gates of the city, Hiroyuki stared thoughtfully in the direction of where they'd come. Even if he looked hard enough, he couldn't hope to find the village four mountains away; Mutouri.

Even though the Ayukawa mountains seemed like a cold, uninhabitable place, those who feared traveling their paths were fools. All six of the mountains the Hyuuga _shinobi_ had listed off to Kai were the homes of several scattered villages. None, however, came in comparison with the Northern Capital.

He scowled as he thought back to his own home in the fields of the far southern regions of the Fire Country; Suzukuro. Its barren climate was much like its inhabitants, as he knew all too well.

_Mamoru…_

The scowl became a dark glare. It was _his_ fault, his older brother's fault he couldn't return home for another 8 months. It seemed like such a long time, even after nearly 4 years in temporary exile.

Snort.

Like he was the one to blame for that arrogant bastard's lack of tolerance and gallantry. Hell, they should have been _thanking_ him for intervening when he did, otherwise who knows what would have happened to that young, naïve little pickpocket he saved the life of. At least the kid was grateful.

That was his punishment; he spent half a year away for every one year the pickpocket was old.

If Mamoru had gone to get that boy after he'd left, Hiroyuki growled to himself, he'd lose a lot more than a few years of his life.

* * *

_Lesse here…if Sensei thinks he's stalking me, he might kill him…Jin, and well he'd probably beat him within an inch of his life. I wonder what Sanzo would do._

While Chiyuko was thinking of the many ways her teacher/dad, brother and boyfriend could horribly mutilate and/or kill the annoying green-clad ninja, the aforementioned shinobi was rambling on about his teacher… Gai something-or-other.

The words 'springtime of youth' and 'explosions' came up more than just a few times…

As they passed the tree dividing the Asano and Hikari families' yards, a rustling in the leaves betrayed a third presence.

"Yo."

Chiyuko looked up, and even Lee stopped in his drabbling to see who the voice belonged to.

_Thank Kami…_

"Fancy meeting you here, Chiyu-chan." The young man in the tree greeted with a lazy two-finger salute.

"Wouldn't you know it, and right by my own house. Small world." She replied, half sarcastic half playful. "You're getting predictable, Sanzo-kun."

Sanzo, the samurai in the tree, smirked before turning to Lee, the smirk becoming a wary look. His gaze was halfway obscured by his blonde bangs hanging in his face, but it didn't keep him from looking less intimidating with one blue eye showing.

"And you are…?"

"This is Lee, the idiot who knocked me out of a tree. Lee-Idiot-Who-Knocked-Me-Out-Of-A-Tree, this is Sanzo-kun my boyfriend."

Sanzo glared at the ninja, who to his annoyance only grinned and held up a hand in greeting.

"Yo!"

The samurai said nothing. There was a short pause, broken when Chiyuko slowly turned to keep walking. Sanzo jumped down from the tree, landing in a slight crouch on the ground before following.

Lee, apparently oblivious to the menace radiating off of the male samurai, just followed along as he had been doing.

Now, picture this if you will.

Chiyuko, followed very closely by Sanzo (who kept looking suspiciously back at Lee) came into view of the Kumano's residence. Out front were both Saru and Jin sparring with their _bokken_, and by the look of it, the younger of the two was winning.

**(Bokken- Wooden training sword)**

Saru, who was facing the approaching group, scowled when he caught sight of Sanzo and Lee; both of them were too close to his little girl. Jin, not immediately getting why his father had suddenly stopped fighting, turned around to face the group.

It was almost comical how alike they looked when Jin narrowed his eyes at the blonde samurai.

"KONNICHIWA JIN-DONO!" Lee shouted, waving his hand at the younger samurai.

_FUCK! He knows Onii-san??_

Jin gave an awkward half-smile and raised a hand in greeting. Lee hesitated a moment, much like someone does when remembering something very important.

"My friends and I hope you are getting well quickly!"

Chiyuko turned slowly to Jin, looking both pissed and concerned.

"You didn't say you were HURT, _ani!_"

**(Ani- term for Older Brother)**

While Chiyuko launched into a huge tirade about "being careful" and "not hiding things from the people who cared about him", Sanzo slowly backed off with an 'I'm just gonna go now' face.

Lee was temporarily paralyzed, letting it sink in that Chiyuko was Jin-dono's younger sister.

This couldn't be good.

_Sigh._

Well, his mission was accomplished, and it didn't look like Chiyuko would cease fire anytime too soon.

She was even scarier than Sakura.

_Cringe._

But at the same time… just as pretty.

* * *

After Chiyuko had thrown a fit to cover up that she was actually worried about her _ani_, Saru had taken it upon himself to inform his son about this Nomura Sanzo person and what little was known about him. Frankly, he didn't like how close the boy got to his daughter, and something about him was… off.

Naturally, Jin immediately went into Overprotective Brother mode.

And, of course, Chiyuko went into Rebellious Sister mode.

If the concern-fit wasn't enough to prove how bull-headed she was, this would be a better example of it.

"Dammit Jin, I don't need your approval of everyone I start to like!"

"He's a total stranger to this village, and for all we know he could be some kind of predator!"

"I'm not a little girl anymore, I can take care of myself!"

"You're still a trainee, you're not on the same level as this guy!"

"ARGH!"

Chiyuko screeched indignantly and stormed outside, slamming the sliding door shut angrily as she stalked out back. Jin, however, was in thought, not just about Sanzo, but something else.

* * *

_He can't control me… Jin can't tell me who I can and can't see…_

Chiyuko narrowed her eyes, arms crossed over her knees, at the rocks under the waterfall, slick with moss and water. She small temple not far from the pool below the falls was sheltered by the overhang, as was the porch she was sitting on just outside it.

It just didn't seem fair; why should she have to get the approval of her father and brother to see someone she liked and liked her back? It wasn't their choice to make.

"Chiyu?"

She scowled and tensed when she felt another all-too familiar presence enter the range of her _ki_.

**(Ki- the aura, also _chi_ when it's outside the body)**

Behind her, Jin sighed and walked up before sitting down next to her, looking up towards the top of the miniscule waterfall.

"What do you want…" She growled.

"Look, I know I probably seem very overbearing from your point of view, and I don't really blame you. I guess it's because I'm used to having an age gap where you were still a lot younger than me, usually too young to make a good decision."

Chiyuko, still simmering but starting to cool, glanced over at Jin.

He sighed.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I just haven't gotten used to the idea that you're not the same shy little girl who needed her big brother to protect her the monster in the closet or fight off bullies."

Now it was her turn to sigh.

Dammit. That was the problem; she could never stay mad at Jin for long.

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

He got up, taking one more look upwards before turning to go.

Good intentions or not… she was still going to see him.


	6. Sacrifice

**Code of the Samurai**

**Sacrifice**

* * *

**Yurii:** _Just so you guys know; this was a fic written originally for my friends at school, but they loved it so much I decided to post it on here._

_Enjoy anyway._

* * *

"So, the Kuroi Yuri has nine members now, does it?" 

Meijin Ogawa folded his hands, as did Meijin Kumano. Beside each of the Meijin, their predecessors listened silently, almost as if waiting for something.

"Dammit. That's three more than the last time one of them was spotted in the area. Do we have any information on them?"

"Only that two of them are twins from the Koi Clan, Suiei. The third belongs to another clan, but we can't tell which."

"Then that must mean they're the two with the eel summons… I believe their names were Nami and Unagi."

At the end of the table, Akahito frowned.

"And what of the other seven? Is there any word on them?"

Kai stepped in.

"If I may intervene; several reports of a member of the Kuroi Yuri came from the Wave Country, and we have reason to believe it may be Yomaro Ashita, Azarashi Mello or Hitsujino Ren."

Meijin Ijiri shook his head.

"Unlikely. Azarashi Mello was recently spotted around Mount Iwa, and we suspect that he may be here."

Kai glanced over at Jin, who appeared to be deep in thought.

"There has also been a series of reports about the Shintoko clan; we suspect that the third Kuroi Yuri member may be the son of Meiko- Shintoko Hebiki."

The rest of the Meijin exchanged looks, some concerned and others grim.

"Even though we don't have much information on the new members, we must assume the worst and prepare for it. Tomorrow, I want heightened security all around the city."

"Hai!"

The rest of the samurai got up and left all looking confident in what to do, but as Kai passed Jin, she knew something was wrong.

* * *

"Sanzo? Are you here?" 

A soft rustling behind her alerted Chiyuko to another presence; the one she sought.

"Do you always have to try and sneak up on me?" She sighed.

The older samurai smirked.

"Just trying to keep you on your toes."

Chiyuko rolled her eyes.

"You'll have to do better than that, then."

Sanzo just shrugged and joined her under the old willow tree. This was Chiyuko's favorite spot; a yard-sized grassy patch with a tree up around the edge of the mountain walls surrounding Kaneyama. It had been hers and Jin's favorite spot, but that was before he became a target and had to travel.

A half moon hung up in the sky, illuminating the dew-damp grass and peaking through gaps in the willow's leaves.

"So… how did it go?"

Chiyuko sighed and fell back into the grass.

"Fine, I guess. He still hates you though."

Sanzo groaned.

"Him and everyone else."

"Aww, I don't hate you Sanzo-kun."

Grin.

"Nice to know."

There was a brief silence before Chiyuko became impatient and jumped to her feet, slightly startling her friend.

"Fuck-dammit, what the hell is WRONG with everyone?? I still don't see why everybody thinks you're bad news! I mean, _Jidai_ never speaks, he doesn't have any friends, and for all we know, HE could have been the one who burned Yokosata to the ground!"

She growled in an animalistic tone.

"Jin should be wary of _him_, not you."

…

"Sanzo?"

Chiyuko looked back again expecting to see the samurai still behind her, but her eyes widened slightly at the maniacal smirk on his face and the _wakizashi_ in his hand.

"Too bad for you, your brother was right."

Alarmed, Chiyuko leaped back, now tensed and slightly panicked.

"This isn't funny Nomura Sanzo, knock it off!"

His smirk widened.

"I'm not Nomura Sanzo."

* * *

"Jin." 

The younger Kumano looked up, almost in surprised. Kai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing concerning it.

Even though she was worried about how jumpy he was…

"We got a few sketches from the witnesses who caught sight of those new Kuroi Yuri members. There's only four, but it's better than nothing."

She dropped the pictures onto the table; Jin picked them up, studying the one on top.

"Apparently, the silver-haired girl is the leader." She hissed quietly.

Jin almost winced at the picture- Jinguji Nari. Kai's childhood friend.

"The twins are definitely Suiei- Nami is older than Unagi, so she poses the greater threat." She continued.

Jin nodded subconsciously as he flipped through the papers. When he got to the last one, he paled.

"Kai, who is this?" He growled.

"Er, that's Azarashi Mello. He's one of the members of your enemy clans."

"Oh no…. Chiyuko!"

* * *

"AGH!" 

Chiyuko staggered backwards, one hand clutching her arm but doing little to keep the blood from seeping through her fingers. Her other arm was already blood-splattered from her bleeding nose.

Of all times to decide _not_ to bring a weapon…

Mello smirked, moonlight reflecting off the blade of his short-sword.

"Pitiful. I expected much better from a member of the Kumano clan, much less one mature enough to have the superhuman strength." He spat.

She glowered darkly at him before releasing her arm and wiping the blood from her nose. His smirk only widened when she formed the sign of the bear.

"Fine. If it's a fight you want, a fight's what I'm gonna give you."

* * *

"Where _are_ you??" Jin pondered aloud. 

By now, the majority if all the samurai in Kaneyama were on full alert and either searching for Mello and Chiyuko or herding civilians inside. From what he could tell, his father was guarding the hospital with several other members of his unit.

Jin narrowed his eyes and kept running, urging himself faster.

_If anything happens to her…_

* * *

"_Hyaku Chikara!_" **(Hyaku- Hundred; Chikara- Force/Strength)**

Mello easily dodged the fist that Chiyuko let fly at his head, and in the same fluid motion drove his knee up into her stomach. The younger samurai doubled over, winded, but had no time to try and regain her breath before he flung her by the arm to the ground.

He scowled as she forced herself to stand up again; this kid just didn't know when to give up, and it was making him impatient.

How she could stand was beyond him; by now, she had one sprained ankle, a number of profusely bleeding wounds on her arms and face, and a broken nose.

"God damn it… what's it going to take to get you to stay down?!"

Mello dashed forward, sword bared and ready. Much to his surprise, Chiyuko slowly shifted back into a fighting stance.

"_Tetana; Memai Kobushi_!" (**Hand-to-Hand; Dizzy Fist)**

It seemed to happen in slow motion as he failed to stop himself from charging the injured samurai trainee as she spun on the ball of her forward foot and drove the back of her fist into the side of his head. The spin had caused her to dodge his sword completely and allow her with the torque of her already twisted body to bring her other fist around and punch him again in the temple.

"I'm not done yet! _Tetana; Memai Ashi!_" **(Dizzy Foot)**

Again, she spun around in her stance, this time to drive her foot straight into his chest. The strength of the blow left him helpless to try and block or dodge as her other leg came up in an arc and was brought forcefully down in an axe kick to his shoulder.

Mello crumpled under the force, but because the second kick had come from the leg with the sprained ankle, Chiyuko had to retreat, limping visibly.

* * *

_Dammit…I shouldn't have done the double…_

Chiyuko winced as she fell back against the tree; not only was her leg now useless, but she was starting to feel the blood loss as the air around seemed to get colder and she started to get dizzy.

Mello, recovering from the blow that had apparently dislocated his left shoulder, glowered at her. His temple was bleeding from the second fist, and his breathing was slightly shallower from the kick to the chest.

"Well, you're definitely a Kumano. Pity you're not the one I'm after." He growled.

Chiyuko narrowed her eyes.

"Stay the fuck away from my family." She spat, her tone as acidic as her glare.

Mello smirked.

"No can do. I pick a target, and I stick to it."

He sheathed his _wakizashi_ and slowly drew his katana as he walked towards the defenseless girl.

"It'll be much easier to kill your brother when he realizes he failed to protect you."

Mello raised his sword, ready to kill. A dark grin lit up his face, silhouetted by the moon and the glow of the blade.

"Don't worry; Jin will join you shortly."

_This is it, then. So be it._

Chiyuko clenched her eyes shut, bracing for the blow.

* * *

The sound of wind on an edge was drowned out by an all-too familiar battle yell, followed a split second later by the distinct sound of steel clashing with steel. 

"_Don't. Touch. My. Sister._"

Every word was punctuated with a ragged breath and an unmistakable undertone of rage; Chiyuko let one eye open slightly, then the other.

Standing in front of her, frantic and angry, was a panting and furious Jin; he'd blocked Mello's sword from hitting her with his own, and the younger's arm was shaking from trying not to let Jin overpower him.

The Kuroi Yuri samurai smirked.

"Not a moment too soon. How typical of you, Jin."

The bear samurai's glower darkened; he lunged forward, forcing Mello backwards enough to get him off guard for a powerful whirlwind kick to the gut.

Chiyuko winced as Mello doubled over her brother's leg from the force, coughing up blood before Jin's fist met his face and dug into his jaw. She suddenly felt so helpless, or at least weak comparing her abilities to her brother's seemingly limitless physical strength.

Mello hit the ground with a heavy 'THUD', but Jin didn't go after him and instead stopped to catch his breath.

"Chiyuko."

She winced at the use of her full first name.

"Are you alright?"

At least he wasn't mad at her…

"I can't stand…"

He looked over his shoulder at the leg she had splayed out in front of her; it was starting to swell and bruise.

"Jin, behind you!"

The older samurai didn't even have to look up and simply swung his fist out into Mello, who'd tried to charge him as a surprise attack.

Mello, despite the pain of having a broken jaw and possible internal bleeding, growled under his breath and swung his sword down anyway, barely grazing Jin's sleeve but enough to leave a thin line of blood.

Jin, having let his anger simmer from seeing his sister injured, lashed out at the blonde samurai who jumped back and barely dodged the point of his sword. Chiyuko cringed slightly; if Jin's broken ribs became re-broken, Mello would gain a huge advantage over him especially if they punctured a lung.

* * *

Mello tensed as the elder Kumano charged him, fully intent on cleaving his head off; had he known exactly how strong Jin was, he might have sent someone else rather than take him on himself.

Snort.

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

_Hmmm…_

He formed a few hand signs, muttering a technique under his breath. Jin raised his sword, prepared to finish the battle, but as his sword came down it wasn't Mello that it hit; a clone of water vapor gave him a smug look as it disappeared.

He formed a few more hand signs, all in rapid-fire succession.

"_Mizu Kogatana!_" **(Water Dagger)**

The water vapor that had once been the doppelganger reshaped into maybe a half-dozen fleet of daggers of water that dropped into Mello's hand. Jin leaped back, but not fast enough to avoid it when the other samurai threw it; he grimaced when one embedded itself into his shoulder, then fell away again as mist. The others missed, but the one that grazed his side turned the tide of the battle.

The frown Mello wore became a smirk.

_Of course._

The blonde samurai sheathed his sword, drawing his _nunchaku_ from his sash and shifting into a fighting stance.

This battle was his.

**(Nunchaku- Nunchuks)**

* * *

Jin glowered darkly when Mello traded his sword for his nunchaku. Either he had some kind of underhanded plan, or he was starting to realize just how far he was willing to go to keep his sister out of harm's way. 

Mello suddenly bolted, twirling one of his nunchaku and clenching the other; Jin lowered his sword, ready to parry or attack. The younger samurai swung his immobile nunchaku at his head; Jin easily blocked it with his sword, but he realized a little too late that the point of the attack had been to leave his injured side open.

Behind him, Chiyuko winced at the blow despite only being able to watch; Mello had figured out Jin's weakness.

Even with the hit, he lunged forward again, driving Mello back with the inner curve of his sword. It seemed to happen in slow motion as Jin started to form hand signs almost in the same instant as Mello.

"_Jishin __Shinkoushoku Suru!_"

"_Mizu Kogatana!_"

Mello hastily threw his water daggers at Jin, almost seeming frantic to land a hit before Jin could use his own technique; Jin raised one fist in the air, the earth below Mello's feet shifting slightly before it crumbled beneath him, burying the samurai up to his chest in earth.

He scowled and formed another hand sign, this time only one.

"_Tsunami Kaerimasu!_" **(Tsunami Return)**

Jin hesitated before looking back as the daggers Mello had thrown returned. Unable to release the _udemae_, he didn't get the chance to dodge and wound up with 4 in his back and another in the side.

"Jin!"

The bear samurai grimaced and grit his teeth, coughing violently before he spat out blood onto the ground. That dagger and blow from the nunchaku had broken his ribs again, and one of them had punctured his lung.

Seizing the opportunity to attack while he was slowed down, Mello ran in again, this time bombarding him with hits. The only thing Jin could do was put up the defensive and endure it.

"_Mizu Tatsu!_" **(Water Dragon)**

Had Jin known how fast this guy was, he might have thought to prepare an _udemae_. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case; the serpent of water appeared in a coil around Mello, its transparent body illuminated silver by moonlight.

Jin scowled and formed four hand signs, closing his eyes in concentration as he held the last hand sign. Mello, impatient, raised his hand as his water dragon reared up.

"Now you die!"

_Not just yet._

The dragon let out a metallic-sounding roar as it charged at Jin, only picking up speed when the samurai ran headlong towards it. The dragon let out a roar, but it didn't phase the samurai as the dragon rammed right into him; Jin kept his arms up, forcing his way forward as the water parted around him from his resistance.

Mello's eyes widened as the dragon disappeared as the technique concluded and Jin closed in on him. Around his right fist, the unmistakable flickering aura of jade Earth _ki_ was taking the form of a bear claw.

"_Sen Chikara!_"

The Kuroi Yuri _bushi_ never got the chance to fight back as Jin threw his Thousand Strength technique full force into him with all the might he possessed. Behind her brother, Chiyuko watched in awe at the attack.

"You lose."

* * *

Chiyuko could only stare as Mello, his chest caved in from the blow, toppled off the side over the edge of the mountain. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as it all sunk in; Jin exhausted but remaining in his fighting stance, panting from his lung and other injuries. 

He'd just killed someone.

To save her.

That was the last thing she remembered before it went out of focus and then dark.

* * *

In front of the hospital, the unit of samurai guards watched vigilantly for even the slightest movements. Now that the civilians were all inside, that only left the samurai still out in search of the Azarashi man and the Meijin's daughter. 

Speaking of whom, Kumano-Meijin was visibly worried about his children. Now that he was a grandfather, his age was starting to show and make his face more readable; his bear mask had been passed down to Jin, so he proudly went without one as proof that his eldest was a worthy samurai.

The whole unit practically jumped when a swirling wind of dust kicked up for a moment, falling away to reveal two familiar figures.

"Kami…"

Chiyuko lay unconscious in her brother's arms, who appeared to be in as bad if worse shape than she was. A large bloody stain on the side of his shirt gave away the reason for his shallow, strained breathing.

He handed his sister over to another samurai without protest; even if he had, there wouldn't be much of anything he could do. Saru approached him, studying his face as if expecting to find an answer.

"Jin?"

The younger man smirked weakly.

"I got 'em… he's not gonna hurt anyone anymore…" He rasped.

It would have been good news, but after finally relieving the burden of informing his father of the rogue samurai's demise, Jin groaned and collapsed heavily into his arms. Saru shifted him in his hold slightly, eyes widening in panic when he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Someone get a stretcher out here! We got a man down!" Another samurai shouted inside.

Saru frowned worriedly before he gently picked his son up in his arms; even as an aging grandfather, he still had plenty of the immense physical strength passed down through all of the Kumano blood relatives.

He just hoped Jin's strength would keep him alive.

* * *

Back at the temple, Kai was pacing furiously back and forth, arms folded sternly and scowling at the ground. 

_WHY_ did it have to take so long for her new armor to be made??

More importantly, why the hell couldn't she go without armor to help in the search for that Azarashi bastard??

Behind her, Akahito watched his granddaughter in her pacing, furious at herself for not being able to aid her comrades. She was very tightly bound to her occupation as a samurai, let alone a prodigy of the Seiyantari clan _and_ Meijin.

There was a good reason why she became a samurai earlier than any record set; eleven years old.

"Lord Shogun!"

Both pairs of tawny eyes went to the door as a messenger-bushi ran in, looking both frantic and relieved.

"News of the rogue?" Akahito inquired calmly.

"_Hai_… the Kuroi Yuri samurai is dead, but the samurai responsible, Kumano-Meijin's son, is badly wounded and hospitalized." He panted. "I was told he collapsed outside the hospital."

Kai's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger. Akahito recognized that look.

She was blaming herself.

"And what of the Kumano girl?"

"Hurt, but very much alive."

Akahito sighed and folded his hands.

"Thank you. You may leave."

The messenger bowed deeply before exiting out the huge doors. Kai turned around again as if to continue pacing, but only got a few steps before she paused.

"Kai, if you're thinking-"

She turned and glared at him, eyes taking on crimson.

"Sensei, I mean this with all due respect, but… stick it up your ass."

With that said, she turned and ran out the door. Akahito let it sink in, chuckling.

_You're more like your mother than you know, Kai._

* * *

"Kumano Miiya?" 

The blue-eyed woman looked up at the doctor, her cheeks tear-stained and afraid of what he might say. Naomi was luckily asleep; she probably wouldn't be able to handle news that her daddy was seriously hurt.

"Your husband is in pretty bad condition, but he'll live."

Miiya breathed a sigh of relief and slouched a bit in her chair.

"When can I see him?" She asked.

"Not until we've re-set his ribs. One of them punctured his lung, and it let blood in. He might not be awake for another few days. You'll be permitted to see him after we've confirmed he's in stable condition."

The doctor walked away, leaving the small family to themselves. Miiya turned to her father-in-law; he wouldn't stop staring at his hands.

It was like he'd gone into shock once it had sunk in that the blood that was smeared all over his hands and arms belonged to his son.

In a way, it was his own blood too.

"Miiya? Kumano-Meijin?"

Both looked up to the doorway where a panting but stern-looking Kai was leaned against the doorframe; judging by her breathing, she'd sprinted the whole way nonstop.

"Is he…?"

Miiya smiled weakly, trying to be hopeful.

"He'll be fine."

* * *

_Nnn… FUCK. Why does my head feel like I got clubbed over the head with an iron bat?_

Chiyuko wrinkled her nose in her sleep before she let one eye half-open, immediately regretting it when she was blinded by sunlight.

"Evil accursed light… begone…" She growled, draping an arm over her eyes.

"I don't think you can turn out the sun, Chiyuko no _baka_."

"Shut the fuck up, Fuyu."

Beside her, the redhead smirked and pushed her glasses up on her nose.

"Fine, I'll just be going then."

She made to get up, but her wrist was quickly caught by her friend's, who seemed pretty miffed that she would actually go.

"You're damn lucky I can't get up, Fuyu, or I'd pummel you." She growled, trying to sound intimidating.

The wolf trainee rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah."

She sat back down, and Chiyuko released her arm. At least she didn't break her glasses.

"Fuyu? What happened to Mello?"

The younger girl looked surprised at the almost saddened tone of her friend.

"Dead. Your brother threw him off the side of the mountain."

"Oh fu- JIN!"

Chiyuko sat upright in her hospital bed, wincing at the sudden movement but still trying to get up.

"Dammit Chiyuko, you can't get up yet!"

The older girl probably would have shot back with some snide comment, but the door was practically kicked off its hinges when a grinning Lee came in.

"Chiyuko-san, you are awake!"

Long pause.

By the time Lee had actually registered what a huge mistake he'd made bursting in, his eyes had locked a little south of Chiyuko's face, who was blushing furiously and ready to clobber him.

Fuyu made a mental note to ask the hospitals not to make the gown collars so low.

"BASTARD!!"

* * *

"I wonder if either of them have woken up yet." 

"We can hope."

"I just hope that they'll both be the same after this."

"Somehow, I doubt much will change."

Saru shrugged at Kai's response. Once Jin had been announced in stable condition, it took most of the worry off his mind.

They had only set foot in the hospital when a long, violent string of curses in Mandarin were followed by a comical sight; Lee was fleeing in terror from Chiyuko with his hands trying to cover his abused skill, while she was hobbling after him on one crutch and beating him over the head with the other, her face flushed very red.

Lee somehow managed to get past the two surprised samurai long enough for Saru to restrain his enraged daughter.

"That's right, you _better_ run you underhanded squeaking hydra-eyebrowed pervert!"

Saru sighed, as did Kai.

Yep. She was fine.


	7. Loss

**Code of the Samurai**

**Loss**

* * *

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty! C'mon, UP!"

Yuuya would have laughed at Kai's disgruntlement at being woken up so early, if it weren't for the _tanto_ knife she flung at him from her tent.

"Good morning to you too." He replied sarcastically.

Kai's hand appeared through the folds of the tent shaking her _wakizashi_ threateningly.

"Well, aren't _we_ just a fucking ray of sunshine today."

Glare.

"Bastard."

GRIIIINNN.

"Yeah, but I'm _your_ bastard."

Groan.

"_Goody_."

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"_NO._"

"How about now?"

"**Shut up.**"

……

"What about now?"

Fuyu whirled around to glare at Chiyuko, who was taking immense pleasure and entertainment in annoying the hell out of her younger friend.

"Ask me if we're there yet ONE MORE TIME, and so Kami help me I'll disembowel you." She hissed.

There was a long pause.

"Sooooo…. Are we there now?"

"AGH!!!!"

Fuyu turned around in the cart to throttle the older girl, but as soon as she caught sight of the pissed-off glare and the crutch in her hand held like a sword, her otherwise valiant but fruitless desire for revenge drained away faster than it had come.

"That's what I thought."

Jidai, who was currently seated in the cart behind them, rolled his eyes and groaned.

Frankly, it didn't surprise him that his fighting capabilities exceeded theirs… well, Fuyu's at least. Being a member of the Taiyouno clan, he was pretty much expected to be the prodigy of the samurai he was descended from.

"AHH! I GIVE, I GIVE!"

He felt his eyebrow twitch involuntarily; while he'd been thinking, they'd gotten into another one of their little 'battles', and now Chiyuko was sitting on Fuyu's back who was on her stomach, her crutch under her chin and yanking upward. The wolf trainee was pounding the ground in resistance, but to no merit.

Apparently, Fuyu had brought something up that she knew pissed Chiyuko off…

"You fucking whore! I told you that those words never leave my hospital room, goddammit!"

…a lot.

"Yeah, and I'll shout them if you don't get the hell off me!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"TRY ME."

Chiyuko scowled; it appeared that they were at a stalemate.

However, that scowl became a smirk only a moment later.

"_Aniki_." She said lowly in a sly voice.

Fuyu, whose face was now flushed a deep red, started thrashing fiercely under her friend, cursing violently in Mandarin. He caught the stanzas 'piece of shit', 'double-dealing backstabber', and 'you wouldn't dare, you gossiping low-life fuckbag whore' somewhere in all the slander and swearing.

If he had to guess, that word had some kind of dark, hidden meaning.

Sigh.

_Women._

* * *

"You surrender?"

Fuyu scowled and beat a fist on the bottom of the cart.

"You. Wouldn't. Dare." She hissed.

"Try me." She replied, mimicking her voice from earlier.

Bitch.

"You know that's strictly confidential, Chiyu no _baishunfu_." She growled in a low tone so no one else could hear.

**(Baishunfu- Whore)**

Chiyuko, not phased by the insult, smirked.

"True, but if you tell anyone about Lee the pervert seeing down my shirt, I'll make sure to let Onii-san know about that crush you had on him a few years ago." The Kumano trainee replied, not bothering to hide the wide, scheming grin on her face.

Fuyu's face turned another shade redder. That was her secret; when she and Chiyuko had been about 11 years old, she'd admitted to having one of those innocent young-girl crushes on the local _bishounen_; in this case, it had been Jin.

"_Fine._ You win." She spat.

Chiyuko, satisfied with her victory, removed her crutch from under the Aiwakinou girl's chin. That was how most of their fights went; they began with a comment, followed by a lot of physical beating (mostly Chiyuko pummeling Fuyu), then ending with some kind of empty threat pertaining to their darkest secrets.

Both knew the other would never tell a soul, but it still made excellent ammunition.

And blackmail.

Verbal jousting was so much fun.

* * *

Even with the two trainees arguing like there was no tomorrow, the older samurai were fully on guard; some kind of ominous _ki_ had come into range, and it had all of them tense and alert.

Kakashi, sensing that something was wrong, turned to Tanaro.

"Someone's following us." The samurai muttered barely loud enough to be heard. "It may be one of the Kuroi Yuri."

The jounin's face hardened.

This couldn't be good.

Up at the front of the line, Kai had already put a hand to her side where her two katana hung. So, it wasn't just a gut feeling. Someone _was_ there.

Neji and Gai seemed to catch on as well; the younger activated his Byakugan while the elder went tense and cast a glance at their surroundings.

Even Chiyuko and Fuyu had stopped their bickering in realization that something was very wrong.

Kai raised her free hand, bringing the group to a halt. If her face weren't blocked by her mask, they probably would have seen red starting to show in her eyes.

"Whoever you are, show yourselves now or we'll have to use force!" She shouted, the hand that was down now fully clenched around _Seigi to Kinkou_.

It was very silent for a moment, the only noise coming from the horses' breathing and the rustle of wind in the leaves.

Yuuya reacted first; he whipped out his _yumi_ and had just as quickly loaded it with two _otoya_ with hawk feathers tied to the ends. The whole movement took only the blink of an eye.

**(Yumi- Longbow; Otoya- Arrow)**

"There's more than one, Fushichou." Yuuya informed the younger samurai, his tone unusually calm considering they might soon be under attack.

Kai growled under her breath.

"Take a guess."

"Three, maybe four."

The female samurai turned cautiously to her comrades.

"Be ready."

The others didn't even need to reply and drew their weapons; Hiroyuki, Jin and Yuuya dismounted, moving between the carts ready to defend them if the need arose. Senryaku jumped out of the cart, drawing her _kubikiri_ knives and forming a single-handed sign around each; the sign of the lion.

Kai, who had dismounted and drawn her fans, slowly moved one hand towards Tanaro, hand in the Fish sign.

In the blink of an eye, Tanaro had vanished, but the hiss of wind against a body in the trees was joined by another, and only a split moment after the older samurai had disappeared was he tackled into the ground by another samurai who had a vice grip on his neck.

Yuuya whirled around and fired his two arrows at the attacker, who dodged with relative ease off to the side. The arrows had only just embedded themselves into the trunk when on both of the shafts two kanji lit up in blue before disappearing in smoke, reappearing in the quiver on the falcon samurai's back- he'd already loaded another arrow into his bow.

* * *

The samurai that had attacked Tanaro straightened out his posture from the dodge, seeming almost amused.

"Hmph. So _you're_ Suiei Unagi." Keiji mused aloud.

The koi samurai emitted a soft 'hn' sound, indicating a smirk under his mask; Kakashi noted that Unagi's had white and orange-red marks painted onto a black surface rather than a white one.

His armor was a deep midnight blue color, adorned with gold, white and copper-orange designs and binds. A pair of koi fish, much like an orange and white yin-yang, swam in a clockwise circle on his chest plate; one was white with an orange spot, the other opposite. On his back, a trident was strapped in place and the two traditional swords hung at his side.

"Very observant, Fushichou." The koi samurai replied in a sly tone. "A shame I don't know who my opponents are."

"Call out your comrades." Kai growled.

Unagi, annoyed, folded his arms.

"Well, aren't _you_ quick to get to the point. If I recall correctly, you greet your opponent before demanding answers." He spat.

Kai dismounted, snapping her fans open; it didn't take a genius to see it was more violently than necessary.

"Call out your comrades," She repeated, this time with a more intimidating tone. "**Now.**"

Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere, Unagi unfolded his arms and raised a hand in the air. However, Kai realized a little too late that there were smoke grenades in his sleeve and had no time to react when he threw them down, setting off large clouds of smoke.

"Damn it!"

Kai focused on the _chi_ in her hands, spreading it out to her fans and forming a different single-hand seal with each hand.

"_Kaze Aogu_!" **(Wind Fan)**

The phoenix samurai took the same stance as Yuuya had during their spar, but rather than take the time to use the footwork, she crossed her arms as far as they could go before whipping them out again; the technique caused what would have been a slight breeze to forcefully dispel the smoke like a tempest.

"Shit…"

Kai silently cursed after Yuuya. The smoke cleared, but it was clear now that Unagi hadn't been foolhardy enough to come alone; two more samurai, one in a snake mask and the other in a mask almost identical to the eel samurai.

Shintoko Hebiki and Suiei Nami, no doubt.

Nami's armor was almost the same as her brother's, but the koi on her chest plate were swimming in the opposite direction, and where Unagi's mask had white, hers was orange and visa-versa.

However, it was Hebiki that Kai was especially wary of.

The Shintoko samurai was clad in black armor, the markings, binds and crest, a winged serpent, painted in gold, purple and bronze. His mask, also black, bore bronze marks around the eyes and nose, and strapped to his back was a sword much like Jin's –a _zanpakutou_- which by the kanji carved into the blade she could see was called Shita-Kiri Suzume.

* * *

The phoenix samurai backed up, her comrades already in tow and forming a circle around their group.

Kai turned slightly to look over her shoulder at the ninja.

"You may want to get away while you can." She said softly. "This could get ugly, and there's no use in you getting hurt or killed over something that's our problem."

"Well aren't _you_ the courageous one."

Kai snapped towards Hebiki, glaring darkly under her mask.

"Figures that the leader would be the selfless one." The snake samurai spat in an acidic tone. "I would expect nothing less from a Seiyantari."

Kai put her fans back in her sash and put a hand to the sheath of one of her swords.

"Well then why don't you come down here and I'll demonstrate something _else_ my clan can do?" She hissed coldly in challenge.

What made the ninja flinch wasn't the threat; it was her tone.

It wasn't angry, nor was it annoyed.

It was forebodingly calm.

Kakashi vaguely recalled the chat he'd had with Jin on the ferry.

* * *

_"She's going to be so pissed when she wakes up." _

_Jin smirked. _

_"Well, don't worry too much. She won't actually kill you. She'll try, but she won't." _

_"Goody." _

_There was a brief pause while Kakashi shifted Kai on his back and pulled her up a bit. _

_"What's the worst I can expect? I fit of rage? I'd hate to have to fight her in a serious battle." He kidded. _

_Jin shook his head, smiling. _

_"You'd be surprised. She acts pretty hot-tempered now, but once you've seen her in a real fight…" _

_He whistled softly. _

_"It's something I'd never seen before I joined her on the road. She has this way of psyching out her opponents; she acts short-fused around all of us, but when she's involved in a serious fight… well, to put it simply, one minute she looks ready to explode, then the next…she's deathly calm. It's one of the most unsettling things I've ever seen."_

* * *

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. Any good warrior, as he knew all too well, remained composed in the face of danger, but there was something to what Jin said that had him thinking that there was something about Kai's technique that had so much effect.

The aforementioned samurai had shifted down into a slight fighting stance, one hand on the sheath, the other tensed and ready to draw.

"Last chance, guys."

Kai seemed almost surprised when Lee grinned and gave the thumbs-up.

"We will stay and fight, Seiyantari-dono!"

"Well isn't that sweet. I think I'm going to be sick." Hebiki snorted.

_I'm getting fed up with this bastard._

Apparently, Sakura was having similar thoughts; if the shuriken she threw was any indication. Hebiki, merely amused, blocked the ninja stars with his arm; Kai mentally groaned that she (Sakura) should have known samurai armor was extremely durable.

Idiot.

"Kuma, Tori, Tora, Sen; guard the others. The others and I will try and fend them off." Kai ordered in a soft tone.

The three samurai and the teacher nodded in acknowledgment; Hiroyuki drew his sais and Jin his katana.

Now it was a matter of who would make a move first.

* * *

It was these kinds of situations that made Kai grateful to herself for making sure the members of their group had some kind of contribution to make; in this case, Tanaro's amazing lightning-speed reflexes.

Unagi, still equipped with smoke grenades, threw down two more as he'd done a few moments before; Tanaro, catching the movement as the rogue samurai dropped them into his hand, bolted forward and caught them in his hand, not missing a beat and throwing them back up at the three.

The smoke grenades went off in Unagi's face, and if it weren't for Kai shouting the command for the ninja, Keiji and Tanaro to attack, they'd have heard harsh coughing from the surprise turnaround.

* * *

Being the fastest, Tanaro reached the trees first, ramming head-on into Unagi who was off-balance from the grenades going off in his face. The barracuda samurai wasted no time whipping out his plum blossom saber _Inagaouhou_ with one hand and forming a sign with the other.

"_Inazuma Ashi!_" **(Lightning Foot)**

Tanaro disappeared, bolting elsewhere to join Kai who was viciously fending off Hebiki with a series of slashes, blocks and stabs that kept both samurai on their toes.

* * *

Beside them, Tenten and Sakura were barely keeping away from Nami, who was getting a lot of entertainment out of their attempts to dodge the water _kami_ (**spirits**) she'd summoned from the stores of liquid within the trees. The rest of the group had fled, but as soon as it was clear, Hebiki would follow them.

"_Mizu Otoya!_" **(Water Arrows)**

She slapped a hand against the tree trunk behind her; the spot under her palm glowed blue with her _ki_ as arrows of water emerged from the trunk before shooting off at the kunoichi. While they were busy with the arrows and spirits, this was the time to go after Kai.

_Let's see if she's as good as they say…_

* * *

**CLANG!**

Kai's face remained stoic under her mask as she blocked another swipe from Hebiki; it was all part of her style. She was always completely composed, and its intended effects were showing on Hebiki as his attacks became more frantic- that was the key, using aggressive attacks, but remaining cool and calm while fighting.

It was the combination that won her grandfather the title of 'Greatest Swordsman' 52 years running.

"Kai, duck!"

She didn't have to be told twice; the samurai fell to a very low crouch as a half-dozen kunai passed overhead at Hebiki. Kakashi landed beside her, still with a fist of shuriken ready in one hand and a kunai in the other.

Something sparked in the back of her head; an instinctive reflex.

"Look out!"

Only a split second after Kai had tackled Kakashi off the branch did a hail of water arrows bombard where they had just been standing. The arrows, embedded in the branch, fell away to water as Nami landed on the bough.

"Go!"

Kai swore under her breath as Hebiki bolted out of sight; she'd have followed, but… she had one hand full holding another branch and the other with a vice-grip on the jounin's wrist. Lee and Gai shot after the snake samurai a split second later, much to her relief.

She looked down at Kakashi, who grinned sheepishly up at her.

"You owe me one." She muttered, half sarcastic.

"I'll keep a tally."

_C'mon guys… don't fail me now._

* * *

"_KAZE OTOYA!_"

Yuuya was firing off arrow after arrow, almost faster than his quiver could refill itself with the spell-marked arrows. The only problem was, even with a gale-sized wind aura around the arrow, Hebiki was dodging it with little or no effort at all.

Hiroyuki, who was growing more and more impatient, flung a sai at the snake samurai; the Shintoko merely tilted his head to the side, dodging it. The tiger samurai pulled out his _wakizashi_, a temporary fill-in until he got his sai back.

It wasn't that they couldn't handle it, it was that both their elements combined were rolled into one; Hebiki. He had no problem dodging or canceling them out, and Jin, still in bad condition from his battle with Azarashi Mello, was of little assistance when he was in this state even despite his best efforts with the numerous Mud Bombs he'd thrown out.

As for the ninja… well, given that Hebiki was not only a Lightning element but had reflexes that would make a snakebite seem slow, it would be redundant to say the samurai was really taxing their speed moves.

The trainees could only watch, frustrated with their little ability to fight on such a level, while Miiya and Naomi were keeping a worried eye on Jin.

Jidai, fed up with doing nothing jumped out of the cart and ran towards the others, forming hand signs as he did so.

"Jidai!" Fuyu yelled.

The silver-haired dragon trainee ignored them as he formed the last sign.

"_Taiyou no Tatsu!_" **(Dragon of the Sun)**

Jidai undid the last sign, his right hand forming the marital arts Dragon Claw as red _ki_ started to engulf his arm, taking the form of a dragon and flickering like a fire did.

"YAHH!"

The trainee threw his arm forward, unleashing the dragon at Hebiki full-force. The snake samurai, growing annoyed with their fight, slashed at the head of it with his sword, dispelling the technique.

"You pathetic little weakling. This should teach you to mess with _real_ samurai."

He formed three hand signs, then lifted his mask enough so his mouth showed.

"_Dokueki Ka!_" **(Venom Fire)**

Hebiki inhaled deeply before spitting outward like a cobra, sending a stream of venomous flames at Jidai. The trainee froze, wide-eyed, unsure of what to do.

"JIDAI!"

The flame hit, but only the ground where Jidai had been. Hebiki's scowl was visible with his lifted mask; Gai had grabbed the teenager before he could get hit and had jumped out of the way well before Jidai could even register what happened.

"Dammit Jidai, what the hell are you doing?!" Hiroyuki shouted from the side.

Gai, who had him under his arm, just shook his head.

"Leave this to us."

* * *

"Heads up!"

Keiji easily moved out of the way as Tanaro shot past him to drive his saber into the chest of a water _kami_. Both the twins had at least a dozen or more of them attacking them, and it was getting very tiring and annoying to have to keep slashing at them only to have them split into two _kami_.

"_Ka no Fushichou!_" **(Phoenix Fire)**

Both samurai bolted from the water spirits as Kai let loose her fire attack, incinerating the trees around them and evaporating the water. So far, it had been the only effective method of getting rid of them.

The younger samurai landed in a crouch on the tree behind the ones now engulfed in flames, one hand pulling down her mask to cover her face again. Unagi, who had been caught up in the flames, hit the ground some 20 feet below with a heavy 'THUD'.

Nami, who by now had used up a fair amount of her _chi_, jumped down to her younger brother who was slowly getting up.

"Hebiki must have taken care of the others by now. We no longer have business with them." She hissed.

Tenten, not about to let them get away, leaped at the two samurai with a hail of kunai and numerous other weapons in tow, but was too slow as the pair disappeared in a burst of water vapor.

"Dammit…" Kai swore.

In the distance, a low thundering sound caught the group's attention.

"That must be the others, come on!"

* * *

"Dammit… doesn't this guy ever run out of ammo?"

Jin scowled, agreeing with Hiroyuki. While they were almost out of gas, Hebiki was still fighting strong. However, much to their relief, Jin had started throwing out much more aggressive attacks, and it was slowing him down.

The snake samurai had fled into the trees, and Jin and Hiroyuki had followed.

Up in the tree, Hebiki stood up on a branch, clearly tired of bothering with them.

"I admit, you put up a better fight than I gave you credit for… too bad for your friend he wasn't here to help."

None of them had the chance to question the context; Hebiki formed a few hand signs, a summon, then held out a hand as bloody, beaten form appeared in his grasp.

"No…"

The rogue samurai, amused by their horrified reactions, casually threw the body to the ground; Hiroyuki ran forward, making an awkward catch.

"Tell Seiyantari-dono to stay out of our way." He snarled, and in a puff of smoke and ashes, he'd vanished.

* * *

"Seiyantari-dono!"

Catching the call from Lee, the group came into the clearing where the rest of their comrades came into view. Kai landed heavily in a crouch, tired and pissed at having let the enemy get away.

"Is everyone okay?"

"For the most part…" Someone in the trees replied.

The saddened undertone in the familiar voice brought up a pang of worry.

"What's wrong?"

Out of the brush, Hiroyuki emerged first, his arms and chest plate smeared with blood. However, it was when Jin stepped out that Kai paled and went silent. The bear samurai, his face still hidden by the mask, carefully set the bloody form in his arms on the ground.

"Seyuno…"

Hiroyuki snarled under his breath.

"Hebiki must have found him when he left… he didn't stand a chance. That bastard ripped his heart right out of his chest." He growled.

Kai was silent for a moment, then briskly walked back to their caravan.

"Come on. We have to keep going. If there's anyone else here, we're in a very vulnerable position." She said monotonously.

They did so, Jin with Seyuno's body, all of them quiet and solemn at the loss of their friend.

Even with her mask on, Kakashi could see the tear that rolled down Kai's chin and dropped into the dust.


End file.
